CHICAGO — Chicago officials are holding a series of public meetings at three campuses of the City College of Chicago this week for residents to weigh in on the sale of adult-use cannabis in the city.
Illinois state law will allow marijuana to be sold to people 21 and older starting Jan. 1. If Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s current zoning plan is adopted, no cannabis retail stores will be allowed in the city’s massive downtown core.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot says her office wants to hear from residents, business owners and others about where businesses that sell marijuana should be allowed to operate.
“Listening to community voices is essential to ensuring that process is both fair, safe and equitable.”
Lightfoot introduced an ordinance last month to create Chicago’s first zoning regulations for marijuana sales.
She’s proposing the city establish seven zones across Chicago and cap the number of dispensaries in each zone. The plan would ban sales in most of Chicago’s downtown and within 500 feet of a school.
“Cannabis legalization offers a unique opportunity to expand equity into our city’s neighborhoods and communities—particularly those that have borne the brunt of the War on Drugs—and listening to community voices is essential to ensuring that process is both fair, safe and equitable,” Lightfoot said in a city press release. “By hearing directly from residents, business owners and advocates throughout Chicago about their priorities and the issues that matter most to them, we can work collectively to create a cannabis legalization program that is strong and effective, and creates new avenues of opportunity for our residents that need and deserve it the most.”
The meetings are planned for three different colleges on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 6 p.m. Click on the links below for information about how to get there. Here’s the schedule:
- Tues., Oct. 8, 6 p.m. at Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Jackson
- Wed., Oct. 9, 6 p.m. at Kennedy-King College, 6301 South Halsted Street
- Thurs., Oct. 10, 6 p.m. at Truman College, 1145 West Wilson Avenue
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
