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Illinois has become the 11th state in the Union to legalize recreational marijuana, and they did it in a way no other state has done it before. By going through the state legislature rather than starting as a referendum to the voters, they were able to avoid many of the pitfalls, including minority representation in the marijuana industry, that had derailed similar legislative action in New Jersey and New York.
The Illinois law sets aside a $12 million Cannabis Business Development Fund to lower licensing fee costs for minority entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry. The fund also will provide low-interest business loans to minority owners, an important step because banks will not loan money to the cannabis industry as long as weed remains illegal at the federal level.
The Illinois law also:
Establishes marijuana job training programs at community colleges.
Expunges marijuana arrest records for as many as 750,000 state residents.
Uses 25 percent of marijuana sales tax and fee revenue to fund Restore, Reinvest and Renew, a program that will award grant money to programs that address violence in communities affected by the war on drugs.
BWAHAHAH...man, the world has changed so much since I was a kid.
Tell me about it. In 1965 when I was born, the cops would find a roach in your ashtray and that was big news in any small or medium sized town. It’d be in the local paper as a big drug bust. It was just that crazy.
If you got popped with multiple joints, you were a kingpin and major drug distributor. You could easily be doing a dime in the bing. Judges were tossing the book at you.
Illinois did right. Why even bother with a dumb referendum? It’s a personal freedom issue.
Tell me about it. In 1965 when I was born, the cops would find a roach in your ashtray and that was big news in any small or medium sized town. It’d be in the local paper as a big drug bust. It was just that crazy.
If you got popped with multiple joints, you were a kingpin and major drug distributor. You could easily be doing a dime in the bing. Judges were tossing the book at you.
Illinois did right. Why even bother with a dumb referendum? It’s a personal freedom issue.
I can’t wait until we get someone in office who will legalize it nationwide. It’s beyond time.
Tell me about it. In 1965 when I was born, the cops would find a roach in your ashtray and that was big news in any small or medium sized town. It’d be in the local paper as a big drug bust. It was just that crazy.
If you got popped with multiple joints, you were a kingpin and major drug distributor. You could easily be doing a dime in the bing. Judges were tossing the book at you.
Illinois did right. Why even bother with a dumb referendum? It’s a personal freedom issue.
Three quarters of a million Illinois residents will have their marijuana prison records expunged. That in itself is long, long overdue.
I can’t wait until we get someone in office who will legalize it nationwide. It’s beyond time.
Yes, Ending the drug war is going to be one of the biggest issue in elections in years to come imo, I really cannot believe there are not more candidates now, running on this platform.
If a certain percentage of the population is going to be using drugs anyway, why should the criminal drug cartels be the ones profiting and benefiting from it? LOL its time to legalize and regulate all drugs across the board, disband agencies like the DEA and cut funding for law enforcement (since they will no longer be waging a drug war, they will not need all that money that was used for this purpose in the past), between the savings from budget money and disbanding a federal agency AND taxes coming in for the newly regulated drugs, this country would be awash in cash, we would have so much surplus, they would be looking for things to spend money on!
Sure, the AG and the President have a strong influence, but Congress can override any objections they have.
And yes, it's beyond time.
I mean, if it can happen in Illinois...
Well, then Congress has stopped representing the publics interest
By keeping federal drug laws in place, there are actually representing the interests of foreign drug cartels...whats it called when a govt aids and abets foreign criminal organizations, by enacting laws that benefit them specifically? I would say maybe treason, but it may go beyond that?
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