Proposal to legalize pot in Illinois, a first for the Midwest

State Rep. Cassidy

Updated April 28, 2017

As the state of Illinois goes into its 19th month without a budget, and is in increasingly dire straits, especially for social service agencies and schools; even as colleges, are forced to take furlough days, the old adage of “desperate times call for desperate measures,” seems to have been in mind when State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) introduced legislation Wednesday to legalize and tax marijuana as a source of much needed revenue for the land of Lincoln, the sixth most populous state in the nation.
 
“Governor Rauner’s utter failure to introduce a plan to address the needs of Illinoisans has held our social services and programs hostage through the impasse he has created,” Cassidy said in a press release. Furthermore, she  continued, “His refusal to compromise has forced legislators to find new ways to create revenue. Our state is in a crisis situation, and instead of spending vital public resources arresting and incarcerating individuals for distributing marijuana, our state should create a legal avenue for selling cannabis to increase revenue for our schools, anti-violence programs and services for the most vulnerable people in our state.”
 

However, Cassidy believes that given the current financial situation Illinois is in, the legalization and taxation of marijuana could help fill the much needed revenue gaps in our budget. In Colorado, marijuana sales generated about $70 million in revenue during the first year of legalization.
 

“The fact of the matter is that marijuana is being bought and sold throughout the state right now, unregulated and untaxed,” Cassidy said. “Because of the Governor’s inability to do his job and fund the state programs that people in communities throughout Illinois rely on, we must look at updating our drug policy as a possible avenue to bring much-needed revenue to our state.”
 
The state would license and regulate businesses to grow, process and sell plants, and it would write safety regulations such as testing and labeling requirements, the sponsors said.
 

This proposal would also allow residents to possess up to 28 grams of pot, or about an ounce, and to grow five plants, and would be a first for the Midwest. 

Joining Cassidy on the Senate side, is State Sen. Heather Steans (-D-Chicago) who has also proposed legalization of cannabis. She, in turn, has said, much of what Cassidy noted in her statement, “Right now, all the money being spent on marijuana is going into the pockets of criminals and cartels,”  And, “In a regulated system, the money would go into the cash registers of licensed, tax paying businesses. [where] It would generate hundreds of millions of dollars per year in new revenue for our state. Prohibition is a financial hole in the ground, and we should stop throwing taxpayer dollars into it.”
 
Legalizing recreational marijuana has swept the nation. During this past election, voters from coast to coast passed ballot initiatives to legalize its use, making recreational marijuana now legal in eight states, and Washington, D.C.
 
For several years, cannabis legalization, both pros and cons, have been discussed in both academia, the recovery community, and by lawmakers. Yet for several decades prior to Wednesday's announcement, as far back as the 70’s, discussions among users was that “the government should just go ahead and tax it, and be done with it.” Now, it seems that those thoughts have become reality.
 
“It is clear that individuals across the nation are receptive to purchasing marijuana through a legal market,” Steans said. “Legalizing and taxing marijuana will not and should not solve all of our budget woes, but it should be a part of the conversation about resolving Illinois’ worsening budget problems. Every bit of new revenue will help to close the governor’s $5 billion budget gap.”
 
Steans’s website also states that “In 2016, the state of Oregon collected more than $60 million in new revenue from a tax on marijuana – more than six times what the Oregon Liquor Control Commission expected for the 2015-2017 budget period. In Colorado, which legalized marijuana in 2012, the state collected more than $140 million in 2016 from taxes on legal marijuana sales.”
 
For those concerned about the effect on addiction, especially, young people, she notes that,“Though recreational sales in Colorado began in 2014, according to the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, marijuana consumption by teens has not increased since recreational marijuana was legalized.”
 
In addition, there is some evidence that marijuana can ease opioid addiction, Increasingly, says Steans, researchers are finding that marijuana can be an effective alternative to opioids for pain management. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids killed more than 33,000 individuals in 2015 alone. In Illinois, 75 percent of drug overdoses in 2015 involved opioids according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.”
 
“I believe that we should explore all options to ending the opioid epidemic,” Steans said. “I think that by legalizing marijuana, we could see a drop in opioid overuse,” says the senator.
 
Marijuana has also been used to treat patients with chronic pain, cancer, epilepsy and some psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
 
The bills propose taxing marijuana at a rate of $50 per ounce wholesale, plus the state's standard 6.25 percent sales tax, said the Tribune report.

State Sen. Steans

Despite earlier,and successful, attempts by Steans, and Cassidy, to pass bills that exchanged prison time for a fine, for small amounts of pot, there is still controversy regarding how the police looked at adjudication, especially when it came to people of color. This proposal would help to remove the role of race and unequal legal application,and level the playing field where previously whites have been given fines in lieu of jail time granted disproportionately for blacks and Hispanics.

In the past many have not been supported the prospect of legalization, and felt that there are unknown effects on usage, ages, and deleterious results such as vehicular accidents, and for young people, graduation rates. Yet, those concerns aside, alcohol, widely available, has been shown to cause more car crashes, and damage more marriages, plus other societal effects, than has  been proven with marijuana.

A recent poll conducted for CBS News, conducted in mid April now reveals growing support for legalization, across all age groups, especially those under 64 years-of-age. 61 percent of Americans think that marijuana should be legal, a 5 point increase from last year; the highest ever in this poll. 

Looking at political affiliation both Democrats and Independents are in favor of legalization, while Republicans are divided.

Even more significant are the data that show 71 percent oppose the government prevention of sales and use in states that have legalized it. Also, 65 percent think that marijuana is less dangerous than most drugs.

Only 23 percent think legalization will lead to an increase in crime, a sharp swing from that of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who sees a correlation between pot use and violent crime. Also, most Americans think habitual drug use is an addictions issue that should be related and not a criminal offense.

The Chicago Tribune reported that “The co-sponsors, Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy, both Democrats from Chicago's North Side, said they don't plan to call the bill for a vote this session but will hold hearings to get feedback and see whether some version of a legalization bill can get support next year.”

Both Steans and Cassidy have recently held local town hall style meetings in Chicago, where most of the attendees showed overwhelming support, across all age groups, up to seniors, said Jon Pearl, Cassidy's Chief of Staff.

Chicago charter school teachers will strike unless demands are met

In the battle over education - with the longheld dream of Republican lawmakers for vouchers, fulfilled with the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the new secretary of education, now comes the fly in the ointment over advocates for school choice: a first ever strike by charter school teachers in the nation, in its third largest city Chicago, could happen in 10 days.

In a statement Educators at ASPIRA charter schools have set a strike date of March 17, citing “a standstill with management in both economic and non-economic issues.”

The strike would be the first of a charter school network in the nation. ASPIRA runs four publicly funded Chicago charter schools serving roughly 1,800 mostly Latino students. ASPIRA educators – all members of ACE, “A Council of Educators” with ChiACTS Local 4343 – have been negotiating for a new contract for ten months.  Recently, 99% of voting bargaining members voted to strike on Feb. 22

“Our priority is our students’ education -- and all of us, from our principals and vice principals to mentors and support staff, work tirelessly to support our students’ intellectual, social, and emotional growth,” said Marines Martinez, acting president of ACE. “Together, we are the backbone of great schools that deserve management’s support and respect -- and while we don’t want to strike, we will if we must to take a stand for our students and our larger communities.”

They announced that teachers will rally on Thursday at 4:30 pm at ASPIRA Business & Finance High School, 2989 N Milwaukee Ave. -- just before the beginning of the educators’ next bargaining session at that location.

In what is now familiar territory, to date, management they say has “balked at providing an additional $135,000 next year in economic support for teachers in a four-school charter network with an annual budget of more than $15 million dollars.”

That’s less than 1% of ASPIRA’s annual charter school budget, which they note delivers a surplus in public dollars to ASPIRA’s overall organizational budget, including its non-charter school operations. And, their administrative overhead is one of the highest of all charter networks according to recent records.

Again, on familiar territory, to public schools, negotiations have also stalled over non-economic issues that include reducing the school day and year for educators -- but not students.

In addition, teachers argue that theirs is one of the longest work days and years for educators in Chicago’s charter school system. They also face the self-imposed mandate of educating the city’s Hispanic students. As they noted, ACE educators have historically worked considerably longer work days and put in more non-academic hours than peers in Chicago’s public schools and other charter networks out of an embrace of ASPIRA’s founding principles to serve the Hispanic community.  The schools have 1400 students, and who are mostly Latino.

To fulfill that mission, their educators have taken less compensation than peers at other public schools to support ASPIRA’s mission “to nurture the leadership, intellectual, and cultural potential of Latino youth.”

“We’re forced to deal with chronic staff vacancies, too much turnover among experienced educators who simply cannot afford to work for ASPIRA schools under these conditions, and substitute teachers rather than full-time, dedicated educators,” said ACE member Tito Rodriguez. “At the same time, we’re doing jobs that management is responsible for, from student recruitment and janitorial upkeep to fundraising for our students’ classroom needs, while management has cut support for critically important non-academic programs that range from music to athletics. If we have to strike to get management on track and preserve excellence in our students’ educational growth, we’re prepared to hit the picket lines.”

Closely related to one of the charges against charter schools are frequent turnover and teacher retention leading to student achievement and instability and lack of accountability and even at the executive level. In the last 6 weeks alone, they note “the charter network’s CEO and Chief Academic Officer have been removed, only one school has the same principal and vice principal who began the school year, and the system’s COO – who had essentially been running the charter school network – recently resigned.”

The recent complaints of public school teachers are echoed by the ACE complaint and which seems to be indicative of a war on teachers as professionals. “Our ACE educators are simply asking that they be afforded the basic rights any teacher deserves,” said Chris Baehrend, President of Chicago ACTS Local 4343.

“That includes the right to earn a living wage that respects our teachers’ experience and commitment, the right to working conditions that lift up and support our students’ academic achievements and our teachers’ dignity, and the right to work under policies and best practices that create an empowering, supportive school culture.”

In a concluding statement, Bernard said, “If it takes a strike to convince senior management of the critical importance of these most basic of rights -- rights that are grounded in our educators’ commitment to the well-being and success of our students -- then our educators will strike.”

UPDATE: Educators at ASPIRA’s charter schools came to a tentative agreement, on Thursday, with management tonight, averting what would have been the first strike of a charter school network in U.S. history. “This tentative agreement acknowledges the vital importance of union educators in the quality of education in our schools,” said acting ACE president Marines “Mari” Martinez. “This has always been about, first and foremost, creating working conditions that support the sustainability of four great schools and the students who rely on us for a quality education. We think this tentative agreement advances those goals.The tentative agreement includes:

For 2016-2017, a 3.25% raise retroactive to the start of 2nd semester.

For 2017-2018 a 3.0% raise.

Maintenance of the 2% employee pension contribution with 7% pension pick-up paid by management.

A reduction of the 2016-2017 school year by 1 1/2 day with NO impact on educational time for students.

A reduction of the 2017-2018 school year by 4 days with NO impact on educational time for students..

A reduction in the 2017-2018 school day from 8 hours to 7 hours and 35 minutes with NO impact on educational time for students.

Minimal increase in insurance costs.

An increase of four weeks of vacation time, plus 13 additional PTO days for 52-week counselors and mentors (these members were recently added to the bargaining unit in via an election in June 2016).

An increase in salary from $33,000 to $40,000 for two 52-week mentors.
Educators  also maintained a strong layoff policy that prohibits layoffs after the last day of the school year.