Despite a state law that will make recreational marijuana legal in 2020, one suburb just voted to make it illegal for another year. NBC 5’s Ash-har Quraishi explains.
Despite a law making it legal in Illinois next year, a Chicago suburb has banned pot until 2021, officials announced.
The ordinance in Grayslake passed this week, banning the sale of recreational marijuana until January 2021, exactly one year after it becomes legal in the state.
Village leaders said the one-year ban will allow them to study the impact of legal pot sales on the community.
“I want to make sure that we’re understanding any risk that may or may not exist to the community,” said Grayslake Village President Rhett Taylor.
Only one Grayslake trustee voted against the ban, saying the revenue and investment that would come with a 3% tax on pot sales could bring much-needed funds to the suburb.
“Everybody else around us has a Target or a Home Depot or something like that and we don’t. And here if we don’t jump on this now, we’ll be in the same boat we always have been,” said Trustee Ron Jarvis.
Illinois this year became the first state to pass a bill legalizing the possession and commercial sale of marijuana through the legislature, but individual municipalities can still decide how to regulate such sales – if they allow them at all.
The recent move comes as other Illinois towns and cities debate whether to allow commercial dispensaries to set up shop.
Grayslake has not gauged public opinion on an outright ban, but officials are asking for public comment.
In the end, it could come down to zoning. Following an impact study by the Department of Planning and Zoning, the village board is expected to revisit the ban in January 2021.
