Is the Midwest Gearing Up for a Weed Filled Future?

The marijuana market has been moving forward with a massive amount of propensity. With the U.S. being the primary source of new cannabis law. It looks like all eyes are on the Midwest as they get set to put in work towards marijuana legislation.

Governor, JB Pritzker, of Illinois signed a bill to allow the sale of recreational cannabis throughout the state. Unlike other laws that had tried to be passed prior, this one seems to be pretty set in stone.

What’s Next for Legal Weed in Illinois

With the new bill, state residents will be allowed to purchase as much as 30 grams of weed. If one is not a resident, that number is cut in half.

The bills passing makes Illinois only the 10th state to fully legalize marijuana. Some say that this new law may set a domino effect for others to begin doing the same.

Beau Kilmer, an official at the RAND Drug Policy Research Center stated that “with the governor signing this yesterday, now more than 25 percent of the U.S. population lives in states that have passed laws to remove the prohibition and allow for retail sales of marijuana to adults.”

Social Implications of Legalizing Weed

Legalizing marijuana has a large amount of social implications as well as fiscal. One of the biggest implications of this new law is the amount of non-violent drug offenders who have been convicted for marijuana-related offenses. Now with this bill, they may have another shot at re-entering society.

Additionally, having low-cost legal weed surrounded by states that don’t have the substance legalized may actually result in some trouble. For example, it would not be extremely difficult for some individuals to traffic the substance across state borders. This would effectively create a new black market based off of the legal one. While this is, of course, speculative at this time. It does present a valid example for the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana.

So What Now?

Well, the hopes do seem to be very high that cannabis legalization in the Midwest could effectively shift the whole of the industry. With only a few months to go before the new laws take effect, it seems as though all we can do is wait.

For now, things do look to be moving up for the world of weed as states continue on the path to legalizing the substance on both the small and large scale. All in all, cannabis continues to look like it has a bright future ahead of itself.