Legislature passed is not a positive nor what I’d call “kicking ass”. That just says that they didn’t have enough public support for it to pass it like every other state has with a direct vote.
It’s important because the legislation included prioritizing minority ownership of dispensaries, and set up a system to “clear the cannabis-related records of nonviolent offenders through an efficient combination of automatic expungement, gubernatorial pardon and individual court action” and “20% of the revenue generated by legalization will go toward funding for mental health and substance abuse services in Illinois. An additional 10% will go to pay down the state’s backlog of unpaid bills; which directly benefits hospitals, health care and social service providers in every community across the state,” among other things.
That’s a whole lot better than a referendum that says “It’s legal now.”
Edit: And I’m pretty sure that the reason it has to go to a ballot referendum is because the legislature won’t do anything about it. Illinois didn’t need a referendum.
Do you think that the other half the country with legal cannabis just had a referendum pass and went “welp that’s it”?
The legislature still needed to pass laws regulating the dispensary market. The legalization itself just had more public support to put it on a public ballot.
A public referendum is always more democratic and representative of the people than a legislature passing a law l.
Because surely a state legislature that gets their asses handed to them by a referendum is going to craft legislation in good faith, that will be fair and positive and ethical, and not put any roadblocks up.
Fuck, Ohio just constitutionalized abortion rights, and the American Fascist legislature is still saying they’re just going to ignore that.
That just says that they didn’t have enough public support for it to pass it like every other state has with a direct vote.
I seriously doubt that. Pretty much every state is polling showing strong support for pot being legal. Do you think blue Illinois, with both blue executive and legislative branches, wasn’t just going to do it beacuse thats a goal of the dems?
Besides, even if the people didn’t like it, they can also petition the criminalize again too and then that goes to a referendum.
Legislature passed is not a positive nor what I’d call “kicking ass”. That just says that they didn’t have enough public support for it to pass it like every other state has with a direct vote.
It’s important because the legislation included prioritizing minority ownership of dispensaries, and set up a system to “clear the cannabis-related records of nonviolent offenders through an efficient combination of automatic expungement, gubernatorial pardon and individual court action” and “20% of the revenue generated by legalization will go toward funding for mental health and substance abuse services in Illinois. An additional 10% will go to pay down the state’s backlog of unpaid bills; which directly benefits hospitals, health care and social service providers in every community across the state,” among other things.
That’s a whole lot better than a referendum that says “It’s legal now.”
Edit: And I’m pretty sure that the reason it has to go to a ballot referendum is because the legislature won’t do anything about it. Illinois didn’t need a referendum.
Do you think that the other half the country with legal cannabis just had a referendum pass and went “welp that’s it”?
The legislature still needed to pass laws regulating the dispensary market. The legalization itself just had more public support to put it on a public ballot.
A public referendum is always more democratic and representative of the people than a legislature passing a law l.
Because surely a state legislature that gets their asses handed to them by a referendum is going to craft legislation in good faith, that will be fair and positive and ethical, and not put any roadblocks up.
Fuck, Ohio just constitutionalized abortion rights, and the American Fascist legislature is still saying they’re just going to ignore that.
Nah, Illinois did it right.
I seriously doubt that. Pretty much every state is polling showing strong support for pot being legal. Do you think blue Illinois, with both blue executive and legislative branches, wasn’t just going to do it beacuse thats a goal of the dems?
Besides, even if the people didn’t like it, they can also petition the criminalize again too and then that goes to a referendum.