IL Passes Law Expanding Cannabis Equity Licenses
Last Friday, Illinois legislators voted to pass HB 1443, a bill that aims to make the cannabis industry fairer and more accessible to Black and Latinx communities who’ve been disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs. Program Counsel Akele Parnell of Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights advised a coalition of cannabis equity advocates in crafting the bill, and today the group held a press conference with government leaders to celebrate the law’s passage.
“Today is an important day for cannabis equity in Illinois,” said Douglas Kelly of the Cannabis Equity Illinois Coalition, thanking Rep. La Shawn Ford and Senator Kimberly Lightford in particular for their efforts sponsoring and ushering the bill through the legislature.
“Rep. Ford and Senator Lightford did an outstanding job of communicating with us and bringing us in to make sure that we had a voice in this whole process,” said Kelly. Members of the Illinois House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 50 to 3 on Friday, sending the legislation to be signed by Governor JB Pritzker.
Chicago NORML’s Edie Moore speaks at this morning’s press conference.
“The passing of this legislation is a catalyst,” said Edie Moore, Executive Director of Chicago NORML. “We’re changing the face of the industry, and I for one cannot wait to see what all those colors are gonna look like,”
Two years after Illinois legalized recreational cannabis, there’s not a single Black majority-owned cannabis store in Illinois. HB 1443 gives real social equity applicants a fair chance to win an Illinois cannabis business license by vastly expanding the number of recreational dispensary licenses available to current social equity applicants, among other measures. After an initial 1A and 1B lottery, it also eliminates a current loophole that allows for those who hire social equity workers to qualify as social equity owners.
“This is not just an opportunity to sell cannabis,” said Jermell Chavis, a US Marine Corps veteran and social equity applicant whose application was rejected by 1 point in the first round.
“I’m looking to revitalize my community and revitalize my neighborhood. I want to rebuild what the War on Drugs tore down.”
Advocates recognized that this bill’s passage is only one step towards achieving accountability, equity and inclusion in Illinois’ cannabis industry.
“What we’re trying to do here is dismantle ninety years of drug policy that created a situation where we were locked out and locked up for decades,” said Gov. Pritzker’s Senior Advisor Toi Hutchingson.
“Undoing that will take a lot, and it will not end now. This is a continuing fight.”