Target date to legally buy marijuana in Illinois is Jan. 1, but details of bill still hazy

Details of a bill to legalize adult recreational marijuana were not released in the General Assembly this past week despite earlier assurances, but one of the initiative’s primary sponsors said they will be forthcoming “very soon.”

Chicago Democratic Rep. Kelly Cassidy said she hopes the bill would be approved by the General Assembly by the end of May. The “best case scenario” would be for the first legal sales to occur by Jan. 1, 2020.

Cassidy spent about two and a half years working with state Sen. Heather Steans, another Chicago Democrat, negotiating the pieces of a potential legalization program and learning about the other nine states that have one.

In a mid-April interview with Capitol News Illinois, Steans said details of the measure would be filed when lawmakers returned from Spring Break — either April 30 or the first week of May. The language is still not available.

The initiative is one being pushed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker — his proposed fiscal year 2020 budget includes $170 million in projected revenue from legalization dependent on licensing fees. Taxes collected on the sale of marijuana would not be available until sales commence in 2020 at the earliest. [Read more at Chicago Sun Times]