Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, has championed medical marijuana in Illinois since 2009, when a group of advocates showed up at his Springfield office in wheelchairs, walkers and with IV bags to plead their case. “It tugged at my heartstrings,” says Lang, who spent the next four years building support for a bill that finally passed in 2013.

A four-year pilot program technically launched in January 2014, yet only this summer will Illinois’ first legal cultivation centers and dispensaries open for business. Given that it will take a few additional months for the plants to grow, it’s likely that two full years will have elapsed between the passage of the bill and the first legal sale of marijuana in Illinois.

Lang tells Crain’s Chicago Business about the long process and his hopes for medical marijuana’s future in Illinois. [Read more at Crain’s Chicago Business]