Illinois did the right thing Wednesday, joining the increasingly fat stack of states that have also done similarly right things.
Thanks to a bipartisan 38-17 vote in the state Senate, a recreational marijuana measure now heads to the House. The bill will allow for Illinois residents 21 and up to have 30 grams of flower, 5 grams of concentrate, or 500 mg of THC-infused deliciousness. If you're not a resident, the grammage is bumped down to 15.
Predictably, per a Chicago Sun-Times report, goobers in several regional law enforcement groups opposed the move. Unfortunately, this pushback from people who presumably never have fun resulted in a few changes to the bill before it passed, including a restriction of homegrown privileges to those with a medical card. Figure out a way around that here.
"This is just one step of many in ending cannabis prohibition," Dan Linn, Executive Director of the state's NORML chapter, said in a statement to Complex. "Even after this bill passes there will still be work to do to give adults in Illinois access to cannabis without having to purchase it from a limited amount of stores and cultivators."
Linn also noted that, while the benefits of this bill (namely recreational legalization) are plentiful, a caveat that many may have missed is the bill's failure to ensure a diverse marketplace in the ensuing rec weed business. "The barriers to entry into this marketplace will only continue to expand the problems of the wealthy being able to profit from this new opportunity while others with fewer resources are unable to move from the illegal to the legal marketplace in terms of growing and selling this product," Linn said.
Meanwhile, Alaska is living in the glorious future with its recent move to become the first state to license on-site weed consumption at shops.
