Committee on Health and Environmental Protection
March 29, 2017
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Legislation legalizing recreational marijuana use has been introduced in Illinois' 100th General Assembly, House Bill 2353 and Senate Bill 316 propose legalizing recreational marijuana use for adults ages 21 and older; and
WHEREAS, Doctors have prescribed marijuana to treat patients with chronic pain, and peer-reviewed research shows marijuana is much safer than alcohol or tobacco; and
WHEREAS, Marijuana prohibition has enriched criminal enterprises while draining limited public dollars on arresting, prosecuting, and jailing people for nonviolent drug possession; and
WHEREAS, Eight states and Washington, D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana use; and
WHEREAS, States with legal recreational marijuana benefit from the economic activity and jobs created by the sale and production of legal marijuana; and
WHEREAS, States with legal recreational marijuana benefit from the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue collected from taxing recreational marijuana; and
WHEREAS, In 2016, Colorado collected more than $140 million from taxing legal marijuana sales, Oregon collected more than $60 million, and Washington collected $256 million; and
WHEREAS, Allowing the legalization and taxation of recreational marijuana in Illinois would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new yearly revenue for our state; and
WHEREAS, New yearly revenue is needed in order for Illinois to equitably fund public schools and support vital social services; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That We, the Mayor, and the members of the Chicago City Council assembled this twenty-ninth day of March. 2017 do hereby urge Governor Bruce Rauner and the Illinois General Assembly to enact legislation for the regulation and taxation of recreational marijuana as proposed by House Bill 2353 and Senate Bill 316.