Patients say they will drive long distances to buy their first legal weed. Neighbors worry about loitering and crime. Police plan extra patrols in towns where dispensaries will sell, for the first time, medical marijuana in Illinois.

Public sentiments range from cautious to elated as Illinois prepares to join more than a dozen states that allow medical marijuana sales. There is still no official start date in Illinois, but sales should begin “within the next two weeks,” Joseph Wright, director of the state’s pilot program, said Thursday.

Required ID cards are being mailed to 3,200 approved patients this week, and lab testing of marijuana has begun. Five retail shops are fully licensed under a four-year pilot that began in 2014.

Each marks another step closer to patients getting a chance to legally buy marijuana after several delays, including lawsuits, and a Republican governor who has been lukewarm to the idea. [Read more at the Rockford Register Star]