Cannabis became legal in Illinois on New Year\u2019s Day, and now Chicago\u2019s administration and community leaders are brainstorming ways to implement a model for the industry that addresses the social harms of prohibition.<\/p>\n
Chicago is one of the cities that has been most impacted by the drug war dystopia, so it is fitting that some unorthodox and cutting-edge ideas are being broached in the Windy City. The current unique cannabis ideas the city is considering include a city-owned cultivation co-op which residents could join and earn a stake in and a \u201cpeddler\u2019s license\u201d for individuals to sell cannabis themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnsuring this emerging industry brings unprecedented economic and social benefits to our communities has been at the heart of our efforts since day one,\u201d Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told the\u00a0Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n With some Illinois municipalities already\u00a0experimenting with alternative models<\/a>\u00a0like cannabis-tax funded \u201creparations,\u201d Chicago is still in the phase of weighing proposals.<\/p>\n Cannabis buyers spent nearly $40 million in the first month days of the adult-use market,\u00a0according to numbers reported by the Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0on Feb. 4. This was despite widespread supply shortages, long lines and a limited number of licensed outlets across the state.<\/p>\n \u201cIllinois had a far more successful launch of cannabis than many of the other states that have legalized, but this is about more than money, it\u2019s about starting a new industry in a way that includes communities left behind for far too long,\u201d Toi Hutchinson, the governor\u2019s senior adviser for cannabis control, told the\u00a0Evanston Patch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some 40 new dispensaries have opened already this year across Illinois, adding to the approximately 30 pre-existing medical marijuana dispensaries that have been grandfathered into the adult-use market.<\/p>\n But Chicago may be trying something very different \u2014 indeed, unprecedented in the nation.<\/p>\n In December, Mayor Lightfoot said her office has plans for a city-owned cannabis cultivation co-op would especially offer residents, especially those from black and brown communities, an opportunity to buy in with a \u201cmodest cash investment,\u201d or, for those who can\u2019t afford it, with \u201csweat equity\u201d \u2014 labor in lieu of money.<\/p>\n Lightfoot portrayed the \u201ccooperative cultivation center\u201d idea as a means of assuring that Chicago\u2019s cannabis market will not be dominated by big capital, or the city\u2019s most privileged.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a very, very expensive business to get involved with,\u201d she told the\u00a0Sun-Times<\/a>\u00a0in announcing the idea. \u201cThe basics to be a cultivator requires about a $13 million to $15 million investment. There are not a lot of people that have that, particularly in a market that a lot of banks and traditional lenders won\u2019t touch. I think the only way to really crack this nut is for the city to invest its own resources to get engaged, get diverse entrepreneurs involved in the most lucrative part of the business, which is cultivation.\u201d<\/p>\n Alderman Jason Ervin of Chicago\u2019s 28th ward expressed outrage that African Americans have \u201czero representation\u201d among the 11 grandfathered medicinal dispensaries that offered the city\u2019s first adult-use sales on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n Gov. JB Pritzker\u2019s office voiced tentative support for Lightfoot\u2019s proposal \u2014 but said it would have to wait until next year, when the new law allows the\u00a0Illinois Department of Agriculture<\/a>\u00a0to decide whether to increase the number of large-scale cultivators in the state. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe administration is excited that people are discussing new and innovative approaches to equity and we look forward to exploring those options when the application for cultivation centers begins in 2021,\u201d a Pritzker representative said in a statement.<\/p>\n But the Department of Agriculture, contacted by the Sun-Times, hedged on whether the new law allows issuance of cultivation licenses to a public entity. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe rules are still being written on that,\u201d said department media rep Krista Lisser. \u201cWe really haven\u2019t been posed with that question as of right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Another proposal, likely to be more controversial still with state authorities, has emerged from community activists led by Tio Hardiman, a longtime anti-violence campaigner with the group\u00a0CeasefireChicago<\/a>. Hardiman on Jan. 22 issued his call for the creation of a \u201cpeddler\u2019s license\u201d that would allow a retailer to sell cannabis at farmer\u2019s markets or out of the backs of trucks. Hardiman said the idea could help \u201cease some of the conflict with the illegal drug trade,\u201d and help ease the city\u2019s crisis of gun violence.<\/p>\n \u201cThis way you can take the criminal element out of [selling cannabis] and allow these young guys to make some legal money. And then you can help reduce unemployment in the African American community,\u201d Hardiman said at a press conference outside the\u00a0Herbal Care Center<\/a>, one of the city\u2019s grandfathered medical dispensaries.<\/p>\n According to the\u00a0Sun-Times<\/a>, Hardiman said these small retailers would be required to keep a \u201cpaper trail,\u201d and drew a parallel to operations such as Grubhub or Uber that use mobile apps and log transactions.<\/p>\n Contacted by the Sun-Times, the offices of Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot issued statements that \u201cdidn\u2019t directly address\u201d Hardiman\u2019s proposal. Pritzker media rep Jordan Abudayyeh noted that legal cannabis is currently only sold by licensed dispensaries \u201cto ensure that products are regulated and safe.\u201d But she added that as new licenses are handed out, priority will be given to \u201csocial equity candidates,\u201d who have cannabis offenses on their records or live in areas hit hard by the drug war.<\/p>\n Pat Mullane of Lightfoot\u2019s office similarly said the mayor is committed to ensuring that all Chicagoans, but especially those from \u201cdisadvantaged communities,\u201d will be able to \u201cbenefit from jobs and economic opportunity created by the newly legalized cannabis industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Chicago over the past decade has suffered from\u00a0blatantly racist<\/a>\u00a0police practices in drug enforcement, and what can only be called human rights abuses. In 2015, grim revelations emerged of \u201cblack site<\/a>\u201d or clandestine prison run by the city police force \u2014 completely outside the law or any public oversight.<\/p>\n Correcting this legacy will clearly be one of the biggest challenges for legal cannabis in the nation. Advocates coast to coast would do well to watch how things unfold in this heartland metropolis.<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong>\u00a0would you want a license to sell pot at a farmers market?<\/p>\n The post Peddler\u2019s Licenses & Co-Ops: Chicago Brainstorms Ways to Make Cannabis More Equitable<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Cannabis became legal in Illinois on New Year\u2019s Day, and now Chicago\u2019s administration and community leaders are brainstorming ways to implement a model for the industry that addresses the social harms of prohibition. Chicago is one of the cities that has been most impacted by the drug war dystopia, soContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,2544,141,170,2462,1051,13199],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41076,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41075\/revisions\/41076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A City-Owned Cannabis Co-Op?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
A \u2018Peddler\u2019s License\u2019 for Pot Dealers?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
\nRead More: Peddler\u2019s Licenses & Co-Ops: Chicago Brainstorms Ways to Make Cannabis More Equitable<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"