Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a bipartisan partnership that works with local, state and federal legislators to create policies that decrease marijuana use said legislation survey and referendum numbers need to be looked at closely. (Photo courtesy of Smart Approaches to Marijuana)

Illinois residents could be heading to state-governed marijuana shops in the very near future, according to one policy expert.

Chris Lindsey, senior legislative counsel with the Marijuana Policy Project, said it is conceivable that state lawmakers could pass the legalization of recreational use of marijuana by the end of next spring’s legislative session.

“Illinois lawmakers are really working hard, talking to as many different groups as they can. You have not seen a bill yet this year because so much is going into it,” said the representative of the Washington D.C.-based lobbying organization for marijuana legalization. “It is not moving through the chambers right now because a great deal of support is being built up. By the time legislation is available, we’ll all have a pretty good idea of where lawmakers stand.

“Foundation is the most important part. It is like building a building. The foundation takes a long time and then the building goes up quickly.”

Lindsey said the March advisory referendum in Cook County, where voters overwhelmingly supported the legalization of marijuana statewide, adds even more weight to the pro-legalization movement.

“It collaborates what Southern Illinois University’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute found in surveys,” Lindsey said. “It is just another validation. Voters overwhelmingly support change.”

In the advisory referendum March 20, 68 percent of Cook County voters said they favored marijuana being legalized statewide.

In a Public Policy Institute survey taken in March 2017, 66 percent of voters said they support or strongly support legalization of recreational marijuana if it is taxed and regulated like alcohol.

“Illinois voters are growing increasingly comfortable with the idea of decriminalizing marijuana,” former interim director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute Jak Tichenor said after the poll results were released, “and we now have evidence that most see it as a potential revenue source for the state.”

That 2017 survey saw a 21 percent jump in the number of people who approved of the legalized recreational use of marijuana from a 2016 survey done by the same group, representatives of the Public Policy Institute noted.

Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a bipartisan partnership that works with local, state and federal legislators to create policies that decrease marijuana use said legislation survey and referendum numbers need to be looked at closely.

“It really matters how the question is worded,” Sabet said. “Most people do not want pot shops in their community. They don’t want (marijuana) edibles sold in their community … It is not surprising to think that at the end of the day most people don’t want pot shops and edibles in their town.”

Sabet said that he is concerned that Illinois lawmakers could be swayed by eying marijuana legislation as a revenue source.

“The first Colorado pot czar said do not do it for the cash,” Sabet said. “There is an increase in other costs if marijuana is legalized. There are more drugged driving crashes, more school dropouts, more law enforcement issues. It is like a business that makes T-shirts just looking at the number of shirts sold, not at the rent costs, what the print and design costs are. It can’t just be about the revenue.”

Sabet said the argument that legalized marijuana helps take the black market away doesn’t hold water.

“We have seen the black market thrive in states were marijuana is legal,” Sabet said. “They can hide behind the law. Plenty of drug dealers do not want to pay taxes. I don’t see how you get rid of the black market. They can undercut the legal price.”

Sabet said with the federal government still viewing marijuana as an illegal drug, Illinois lawmakers run the risk of losing federal funds if they move forward with the legalization of marijuana.

“That is a big conflict,” Sabet said. “Legalizing marijuana could jeopardize Illinois getting public funds, education funds. The federal government views marijuana as an illegal drug. If Illinois lawmakers get money from an illegal business that could be a big problem.”

Sabet said SAM is already looking at how to do more and have a bigger presence in Illinois as the legalization fight ramps up.

He said the argument that decriminalization will level the playing field and lead to less people of color being arrested is false.

“In Colorado, blacks and Hispanics are arrested more frequently (for drugged driving). You know who will get rich from legalizing marijuana? The people who are already getting rich from it and they are overwhelmingly white.”

He said many young marijuana users would be on the outside looking in when it comes to employment.

“Legalization will benefit rich white guys. Younger people will have the door closed on them. Those who test positive for marijuana use will not get jobs. They will not be hired in the transportation industry, not be hired by law enforcement, not be hired by government agency. Legalization is not going to help people of color.”

The Marijuana Policy Project’s Lindsey said that statistics about elimination of the black market in states where marijuana is now legal are difficult because all activity before legalization was underground.

He said by looking at how usage rates changed before and after legalization in Washington, it would appear that 75 percent of the black market has been pushed out.

“They can take that revenue from the system and give it to law enforcement,” Lindsey said. “They can focus on the remaining 25 percent of the cheaters, including audits on (pot-selling) stores. None of this existed before. Now law enforcement has an idea of where to direct its attention.”

With police not having mobile units to test individuals for drugged driving, some law enforcement officials in the state have expressed concerns about an increased in drivers under the influence of marijuana should pot be legalized in the state. Some have said the state should wait on legalization until equipment is available for testing drugged drivers.

“You are not going to change a terrible policy because you are looking at devices?” Lindsey asked. “In this particular instance, you have 750,000 regular marijuana users in the state who work with criminal organizations to get cannabis. We should address that immediately. Let’s not stop the legalization process for that alone.”

Lindsey said that regulation works and moves the criminal piece out of the marijuana business.

“It is an absurd system that we are maintaining,” he said.

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