Illinois State House District 58 issued the following announcement on Dec. 31
Tomorrow, Illinois ends the criminalization of cannabis and regulates it for adult use.
I have some thoughts:
This is a tremendous cultural shift, and would not have happened without the tenacity of Kelly Cassidy Jehan Gordon-Booth Celina Villanueva David Welter Heather Steans Toi W. Hutchinson Jason Barickman Christian Mitchell & Governor JB Pritzker.
I am proud to have been part of a small group of stakeholders who drafted this bill. It was not perfect, and at times I doubted whether it would pass, but there's a reason IL succeeded in passing its legalization law where NY and NJ legislatures failed.
Social Equity was the glue that kept this bill together (and sometimes nearly toppled it). We prevailed because of recognition that we cannot make this plant legal without recognizing the hundreds of thousands of people put in jail for using the same exact product. But that wasn't enough.
The expungement provisions in the law are unprecedented, with the vast majority of criminal convictions being automatically expunged. This is important - a manual process would not have resulted in a robust set of expungments since most people wouldn't know they are eligible. [Governor Pritzker is taking this important action today at 10a.m.]
The new law prioritizes social equity applicants for all new business licenses, correcting a failure of the process I oversaw in 2014 awarding medical cannabis licenses (we assigned bonus points for minority ownership, but fell woefully short).
These new 75 dispensary licenses are what you've been reading about the last few months - expect a few thousand applications for these coveted licenses by 1/1/20. There will also be 40 craft grow, 40 infuser, and transporter license applications due in a few months.
The law also requires existing medical cannabis businesses to seed funding for low-interest loans for social equity applicants, provides millions in grassroots-based community grants (from tax revenue) and establishes 8 exciting community college vocational programs.
So what can you expect on January 1? Unless you are going to stand in line for hours at one of 30+ dispensaries around the state, you won't see anything different other than the flood of media stories ("1st marijauna sale!" "Thousands wait in long lines!" "Grandma uses pot for first time since Woodstock!")
Adults 21 and over need just a gov't ID and they'll be able to buy 1 oz (or.5oz if out-of-state) - they can buy smokeable flower, infused products or oils. Medical cannabis patients can still buy 2.5 oz, and can now home-grow, while paying only 1% sales tax (not 30%+ under rec)
The medical side of the equation is more my bailiwick, so you can look forward to more legislation and patient protections from me in the Spring - protecting med cann patients from employment discrimination, reducing licensing fees, and regulating hemp-based CBD.
But what about driving under the influence, increased access to children, more potent products, and general health and consumption education to the public? Expect to hear a lot more about this in 2020. Until then, 1/1/20 is a great day for criminal justice reform in Illinois.
Original source can be found here.
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