Chicago marijuana for recreational use could become a reality, if the state goes along, after 68 percent of voters in Cook County said yes to its legalization in a nonbinding referendum on Tuesday's primary election day ballot.
Illinois State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, who is pushing a bill to legalize the drug currently banned federally, claimed there is already broad support for legalization around the state, the Chicago Tribune reported.
For a state that has struggled balancing its budget, politicians like Illinois State Sen. Heather Steans see dollar signs, telling WLS-TV the state stands to receive $300 million to $700 million in tax revenue annually from legalization.
"So what this really would accomplish is reducing the black market," Steans said. "Getting people to buy it in a regulated taxed business where you know you're getting a safe product. And the revenue, instead of going to criminals, is going to the state of Illinois."
Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker, who won the party's primary on Tuesday to face Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, said in January he was making the legalized marijuana issue a bigger centerpiece of his campaign, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Rauner said last month that enough is not known from legalizing marijuana in other states to for him to jump on the weed bandwagon, the Daily Herald reported.
"I personally do not support that today," Rauner said about pot, per the Daily Herald. "I think recreational use of marijuana is a massive human experiment. We do not know the consequences of the experiment. I do not want to experiment on the young people of Illinois. Marijuana has dramatically changed in terms of potency and impact and there's very little research on the impact of marijuana on a developing young person's brain."
"The referendum shows overwhelming support for cannabis in Illinois," John Sullivan, a former Cook County prosecutor, board member of the Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois, and part owner of two marijuana dispensaries in Chicago and in Rockford, told the Tribune.
"A gradual progressive approach is the way to go. This medicine should be available to people who need it."
However, Aaron Weiner, director of addiction services at Linden Oaks Behavioral Health in suburban Naperville, said the state would make a mistake legalizing a drug that he sees people struggle with on a regular basis.
Weiner said he foresees increased auto accidents from driving while high, increased emergency room visits and increased usage and addiction that have been reported in some of the eight states with legal pot.
"I see the fallout of this," Weiner said, per the Tribune. "People really don't understand what they're voting for and getting into."
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