Recreational Pot comes to Illinois

The first day of 2020 in Illinois will bring more than a hangover to many victimized from the previous night’s revelry, it will also be the first day that recreational marijuana can be sold, as it becomes the 11th state in the nation to allow recreational marijuana for sale, a dream come true for those who smoked it furtively in 1970s college dorm rooms, and who are now grandparents, with maybe just a hankering for what was known to them as “killer weed”,  used either as a term of jocular affection, or a description of the herb’s superior quality.

With the support of State Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) who labeled themselves, affectionately, as “The Cannabis Queens” in a concerted effort to fill the state coffers with much needed funds to solve pension deficits, for both the state, and the third largest city in the United States, but who are first in pension woes, which have made a dent of $838 million in an already weak financial base.

Reception to the news has brought both picks and pans with the roll out, some worried about the dangers of over consumption, and some about the health of teenagers, and some feeling that it’s just plain wrong.

All of that fell beneath the push from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker who made it a legislative priority, after his inauguration, with expected revenue of $5 million, or more, but two Chicago aldermen felt that those who were promised priority licensing, and who had been the  target of the old illegality were not going to gain the promised priority for licensing and help for facilities, but all things being political, in Chicago, there was more than meets the eye, to jaundiced City Hall observers..

The law stipulates that only those 21 years old, and above may purchase 30 grams  “of marijuana plant material, edibles totaling no more than 500mg of THC, and five grams of cannabis concentrate products. Non-residents will be able to purchase half those amounts,” reported ABC 7,

While advocates, including lawmakers, say that the new law will help drive street dealers away and thus reduce crime, some are saying that isn’t so and a recent interview with one such dealer in the alternative paper, “The Reader” gave support that some buyers will not want to pony up the necessary id, face the retail outlets, or just plainly speaking, sustain an ongoing relationship, and possibly lower prices. Only time will tell, but long lines are expected and as of this notice only cash will be accepted.

One of the fiercest debates surrounded social equity of sales to black and brown people who were the frequent targets of illegality, and that is where a great deal of heat and light was debated.

The piles of paperwork and rules and regulations and money were daunting for many people and in other states, where it has been tried, the success rate has been mixed.

Added to the mix were consultants at the ready for advisement, but also at high prices, high enough to keep those desiring entry, out of the entrepreneurial feeding trough.

What made the effort distinctive, as well as difficult was highlighted in recent coverage by Crain’s Chicago Business, where it noted that “As the 11th state to approve recreational marijuana, Illinois has taken the concept of social equity to a new level. While other states scrambled to implement legal weed after it was approved in voter referendums, Illinois was the first to design legislation with the social equity goals in mind, something advocates promised in order to win enough votes for passage last spring after months of intense negotiations.”

Furthermore was Pritzker’s statement: "I want to create millionaires in communities that have been left out and left behind," said Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Getting it right is paramount for Illinois, but yet, reality bites, and “Social equity efforts have largely come up short in Colorado, Washington, California and other states that have tried before Illinois. And the states own record of diversity with marijuana entrepreneurship has not been promising: None of the first 55 medical dispensary licenses awarded by Illinois is held by a minority-owned applicant. The same is true for cultivation licenses.”

Steans when interviewed, said, somewhat ruefully, “"We're not going to know until the licenses are issued whether it worked and we really get the diversity we were hoping for."

“Marijuana Business Daily, a trade publication, found in a 2017 survey that African Americans account for just 4 percent of cannabis business owners and founders, though they make up more than 13 percent of the population,” was the harsh fact reported by Crain’s.

Taking it from the top, this is big business, and “With the recreational market estimated to generate $2 billion in annual sales, a single dispensary could bring in $5 million to $10 million a year in revenue, potentially making a license worth $5 million to $15 million,” noted.Crain’s.

The nitty gritty revealed some good intentions, but as St. Theresa noted, good intentions can often lead to hell, or in this case more for the alleged “man”, than the man on the streets.

“During negotiations, advocates came up with a novel approach that says applicants who qualify for social equity status will get 50 points toward the possible 250 points available for a dispensary application, based on where the majority owners lived or a prior marijuana arrest record. But it doesn't set out a quota of how many of the 75 licenses they will receive.

Social equity applicants also will be charged an application fee of only $2,500, half of what the state will charge others.”

That road also led, perhaps, to the law of unintended consequences, or simple expedience, that the 55 dispensaries that are currently selling medical marijuana, the right to also sell recreational stuff on Jan. 1, and they are mostly white men.

As a footnote, “The first new dispensary licenses won't be issued until May, and it could be a full year after recreational sales begin before they're operational. That gives incumbents a head start, especially when it comes to locations in the city, which are limited by zoning.”.

Keeping it real, Crain’s also reported one of those intended targets, who said, "How is this not rigged? It doesn't make sense," Jonathan Smith, a Chicago resident, said during a public hearing in October at Kennedy-King College in Englewood. "If it's just for some people, just say so."

Trying to gain traction was another rule: “One is for principal owners to have resided for five of the past 10 years in an area that has high rates of poverty and unemployment and that was “disproportionately affected” by the drug war, in which for decades law enforcement targeted people of color for arrest and incarceration despite research showing that marijuana use is fairly equal among racial groups.”

In late December, the State of Illinois began the application period for the first $21 million Low Cost Loan Program, that was part of the law. The resulting Cannabis Business Development Fund supports social equity applicants and licensure., and are living in a Disproportionately Impacted Area, and the revenue stream is from the licensing fees of the first group of dispensaries, among other resources.

These low-interest loans are part of the Pritzker support.

Stepping up to the plate is Cresco Labs who have vowed to work as “a catalyst for some incredible, positive change,” said CEO Charlie Bachtell, in interviews.

The train has not left the station, and the jury is still out, but taking some political shots at Chicago’s new mayor, Lori Lightfoot, two local aldermen, using equity goals as political cover, tried to derail the Chicago effort, in an effort to embarrass her, was Alds. Carrie Austin and Anthony Beale, who in December wanted “Chicago sales of recreational marijuana . . . pushed back until July 1 under an ordinance that squeaked through a City Council committee.  . . at the behest of black aldermen demanding diversity among dispensary ownership.”

“The 10 to 9 vote by the City Council’s Committee on Contract Oversight and Equity was a political embarrassment to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whose administration tried desperately to appease the Black Caucus during negotiations that continued during the meeting” reported The Chicago Sun Times

That was later defeated and attentive observers noted that Austin, whose office was raided by the Feds recently for footloose games with property ownership, faced further scrutiny by Lightfoot, and Beale who lost his prime spot as Transportation, and the mayor replaced Austin as Budget Director, with Pat Dowell.

Beale had warned Lightfoot “that if she insisted on pushing Ald. Scott Waguespack as Finance Committee chairman, whom Beale claimed doesn’t “play well with others,” she might be picking a fight with the new City Council she cannot win.” And, he learned a lesson, as well, according to the Sun-Times.

As local Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass noted, when covering the recent teachers strike that the mayor learned that “revenge is a dish best served cold.”

One key issue, for those living in federally subsidized housing is eviction for using; not just a joint, but even cannabis infused gummy bears, or cosmetics containing CBD, even though the latter was legalized last year, and especially pain relievers, used by senior residents.

Various approaches have been suggested but there is, as of this date, no uniform policy, despite a much publicized eviction of a New York man in 2018, while the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in 2011 advised a case- by- case determination.

To no one’s real surprise the Trump administration “rescinded an Obama administration policy that had eased enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that legalized the drug,” reported Inside Publications, a Chicago community newspaper.

Local law enforcement has also not found an unequivocal method of testing impaired drivers.

With increased anticipation and those long lines of cash bearing buyers, some in the local business community have criticized the mayoral designed zoning districts that prevent sales from along Chicago’s famed Mag mile, notably Joe Cahill in Crain’s who blamed it all on Lightfoot’s desire to spread investment along the city’s South and West sides, what he called her social equity agenda.

Here is her plan: “the city would be divided into seven zones for recreational marijuana dispensaries. Each zone would be allowed up to seven dispensaries, with an increase to 14 in May. Dispensaries would be prohibited, however, from locating in a downtown "exclusion zone" in most of the Loop and Magnificent Mile,” according to the Tribune.

“Lightfoot's exclusion zone would squander her greatest opportunity for marijuana tax revenue. It also would blow the best chance to squeeze tax dollars out of suburbanites and out-of-towners, groups Lightfoot has singled out as free riders on city services.”

Ouch!

Yet, the mayor has said that she wants those areas to be “family friendly”, and we concur, as the blowback with the first incident of someone toking up outside the Disney Store would wreak public relations havoc, just as she tries to solve Chicago’s moribund finances.

All of this supports a change in attitude among Americans regarding pot usage, and has moved away from nearly thirty decades of disapproval to decriminalization and now recreational use of marijuana, and yet this seems like just the beginning for long term advocates, but a new day, as well, as a new year for many.