ALDERMEN CALL FOR BITES ON SITE
Urge state Legislature to allow cannabis cafes that serve edible pot products
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision to call off a City Council showdown on her plan to create licensed places for on-site consumption of recreational marijuana will leave Chicagoans temporarily searching for places to smoke the weed they buy.
But it also gave African American aldermen an opening to recommend changes to make the ordinance more equitable.
Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, wants the Illinois Legislature to let Chicago license smokeless cannabis cafes where small serving sizes of edible pot products can be sold and consumed on the premises.
That would allow cannabis cafes to open on the South and West Sides, where there are few smoke shops and hookah lounges, and make money without having to install costly ventilation systems, Ervin said Tuesday.
“People should be able to consume infused products at a restaurant as long as they meet the qualifications to purchase it. I don’t think it needs to be a dispensary. If you want to have a chocolate bar or potato chips,” that should be permitted, Ervin said.
“If you have an edible, that’s different. There’s no secondhand smoke.”
State lawmakers: It’s not a priority
However, state lawmakers who sponsored the legalization law have said that licensing such businesses is simply not a priority.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, who helped to craft and pass the legalization measure, said the issue around social consumption has always focused on where smoking pot could be allowed in light of the strict restrictions in the Smoke Free Illinois Act.
“This is the best we were able to accomplish, but the question of accessibility is really about smoke products, not edibles,” Cassidy said.
State law also allows cities to permit smoking at marijuana dispensaries, and Cassidy said new dispensaries being licensed around the state in the next few months could “in theory” seek a city license to offer consumption, too.
But aldermen have also raised concerns about pot use at the dispensaries, and Lightfoot’s now-shelved ordinance did not cover consumption at those businesses. It would have limited consumption-on-premises licenses to retail tobacco stores that derive 80% of their revenue from the sale of tobacco-related products.
Smoke shops would have been required to purchase a two-year, $4,400 license, be the sole occupant of a free-standing building and prevent smoke from escaping into areas where smoking is prohibited.
“It’s not just the $4,400 that’s the problem. It’s the ventilation system. It’s the whole big capital expenditure that you have to make. And also with it being in a free-standing building with no other activity,” Ervin said.
Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) agreed that the “real way to go” is to have the General Assembly loosen the reins and license consumption cafes that are authorized to sell edibles, so long as they’re eaten on-site.
“You can’t do consumption unless you allow the consumption places to offer something to consume … so they can make money. Otherwise, it makes no sense,” he said.
License Committee Chairman Emma Mitts (37th) said Lightfoot did the right thing by pulling the consumption ordinance, even if it temporarily leaves tenants whose landlords prohibit smoking without a place to use the weed they buy.
Marijuana consumption is also prohibited in cars, on buses and trains, on sidewalks and in parks.
‘Not enough revenue’
“It would have been a disparity for the South and West Side. It would have left them [with no place] to go and consume marijuana because we don’t have as many smoke shops,” she said.
“There were too many loopholes in terms of the way people feel about tobacco and marijuana use together. There was not enough revenue for what they’re spending for the license.”
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), Lightfoot’s City Council floor leader, said the mayor plans to ask state lawmakers to make changes “related to the 80% requirement for selling tobacco”-related products and do it quickly to prevent evictions and another round of marijuana-related arrests. He said the mayor has the votes to approve a consumption ordinance, and wants to do so by February, but they don’t want to push “something aldermen are not comfortable with.”
Asked about the idea of relaxing the rules on tobacco sales at smoke shops, Cassidy said the wording of the state law was not ideal. However, any changes on consumption rules will have to pass both houses in the Legislature, and nothing is guaranteed.
“This is not what we wanted. We wanted there to be a safe and accessible place for folks who don’t have them [to consume], and this is a good first step, and we couldn’t agree more that it’s imperfect,” Cassidy said.