Illinois
State Sen. Scott Bennett (far right) introduces the legislative panel
during a town hall meeting “C-U Talks Marijuana Legalization” on Feb.
18. The panel is comprised of (left to right) Champaign County State’s
Attorney Julia Rietz, Champaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman, State
Rep. Carol Ammons and Illinois State Sen. Heather Steans. The panel took
questions and addressed concerns from the audience at the prospect of
recreational marijuana legalization in Illinois.
While medical
marijuana has been legal in Illinois since 2013, the proposed bills for
legalizing recreational marijuana use has been in discussion in the
state government.
Illinois State Rep. Carol Ammons and
State Sen. Scott Bennett held a town hall meeting in Champaign to
discuss the proposals on Feb. 18.
The meeting included an education and
legislative panel to present information and address the concerns of the
local community regarding specific bill proposals and their potential
economic and societal impact. The meeting was held against the backdrop
of increased talks of legalizing recreational cannabis through a
proposal introduced to the Illinois General Assembly by State Sen.
Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy in early 2017.
Illinois residents ages 21 and over would
be able to purchase and possess up to 30 grams of cannabis for
recreational use under the program. Additionally, it would allow
employers to maintain a drug-free workplace and for landlords to
restrict access to marijuana.
The panel discussed equity programs for
businesses applying for cultivation licenses, especially for people of
color who have been disproportionately impacted by drug policies.
Ammons’ recent proposed bill, “Cannabis
Legalization Equity Act,” calls for more equity provisions for
marginalized communities and the establishment of community benefit
funds from recreational marijuana tax revenue.
“I realized that we needed to do more to
not only bring equity in the business side, but we also needed to deal
with the criminal justice side,” Ammons said during the meeting.
Alondra Pulido, junior in AHS, said she believes the higher rates of minorities who are convicted for drug crimes are unfair.
“So many people are getting incarcerated
and put in jail for little amounts of marijuana,” she said.
“It doesn’t
really serve a purpose because there’s worse things that people could be
doing versus just smoking marijuana.”
Illinois is one of 33 states with a
public medical marijuana program. There are two medical cannabis
dispensaries in the Champaign-Urbana area.
During the meeting, education panelists
spoke on a recently introduced opioid alternative program in the state,
which allows some patients to apply to use medical marijuana instead of
being prescribed opiates.
Major concerns raised by the public in
regard to the proposed bills in addition to equity programs included
road safety, the length of time the THC stays in the body and marijuana
usage among juveniles.
Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia
Rietz said during the legislative panel prosecution of cannabis is not a
major issue in the county, with only five out of the 198 people in
custody for cannabis possession or delivery. Instead, there is a greater
focus on the prosecution of cocaine and heroin.
Rietz also raised concern over the nearly
20 percent increase of urine testing positive for marijuana among
juveniles on probation in Champaign county from 2015 to 2018.
“We have to be cognizant of that,” Rietz said during the meeting.
“We can say it’s not a gateway drug and
all of those things, but it absolutely effects (juveniles’) brain cells.
It absolutely affects their decision making. It absolutely affects the
direction that they go in life.”
Steans, one of the lawmakers who
initially introduced recreational marijuana legalization, also proposed
in her bill that the tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales
should go toward funding public education campaigns on the drug.
“When you give kids good information
about why it’s not good for them to do things, they make those better
decisions for themselves,” Steans said. “They don’t want to go and get
themselves harmed or somebody else harmed in a drinking-and-driving
accident or by using cannabis.”
In addressing road safety, Reitz
mentioned the costly and timely process of testing for cannabis, in
addition to the lack of roadside tests for cannabis in drivers and the
lack of drug recognition experts.
These experts are specially trained law enforcement officers who can conduct field tests for detecting various drugs.
“In Illinois, there are 50 certified drug
recognition expert law enforcement officers for the entire state,”
Reitz said. “We in Champaign County have one.”
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