CHICAGO – In Tuesday’s Illinois primary election, the voters of Cook County were asked:
“Shall the State of Illinois legalize the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, testing, and sale of marijuana and marijuana products for recreational use by adults 21 and older subject to state regulation, taxation and local ordinance?”
The results of the ballot question were a resounding ‘yes’ as 68% of the voters in the nation’s second most populous county voted in favor of the legalization of recreational marijuana.
In December, Cook County commissioners voted unanimously to put the advisory referendum on the ballot. Although such ballot referendums in Illinois are non-binding, they are used to gauge public opinion and help lawmakers determine whether to bring legislation forward for a vote by the legislature. If that happened, Illinois would be only the second state to legalize through its elected officials. Of the eight states to legalize recreational marijuana so far, only Vermont did so through its state legislature. All of the other states to legalize marijuana did so through a direct-to-voter proposition, which then became state law.
Illinois already has legal medical marijuana, but it is one of the most restrictive medical marijuana programs in the nation. Doctors cannot legally prescribe cannabis unless a patient suffers from one of a handful of approved debilitating conditions. The state’s governor, Bruce Rauner (Republican), has repeatedly pushed back against calls to expand the list of qualifying conditions for the medical cannabis program. Rauner is opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana.
But marijuana law in Illinois could be set to change as early as 2019. Also coming out of Tuesday’s primary election was J.B. Pritzker, who won the Democratic primary and will face Rauner in the November general election for governor. Pritzker has been in favor of cannabis legalization throughout his campaign and specifically mentioned his plan to legalize marijuana in his victory speech Tuesday night.
