Business

Key City Panel Advances Measure to Ban Sale of Intoxicating Hemp in 2 Southwest Side Wards

A key city panel unanimously advanced a proposal Tuesday to ban the sale of products that include intoxicating hemp in two Southwest Side wards, amid an ongoing clash between Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. J.B. Pritzker over how to regulate and tax the sale of the products.

The Chicago City Council’s License and Consumer Protection Committee advanced an ordinance that would prohibit the sale of “cannabinoid hemp products” that are “capable of producing a psychoactive effect in a person who consumes it” in Ald. Marty Quinn’s 13th Ward and Ald. Silvana Tabares’ 23rd Ward.

If approved by the full City Council, violations of the ordinance could trigger fines of at least $2,000 and no more than $5,000. A final vote on the measure could come at the City Council meeting scheduled for Jan. 15.

The measure would prohibit the commissioner of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection from issuing “any new retail tobacco dealer license” or renewing “any existing tobacco dealer license for a retail tobacco store” in the 13th Ward or the 23rd Ward.

Despite the wards’ proximity to Midway International Airport, both are made up of single-family homes, where residents value their suburban-like haven.

Quinn and Tabares said many of the products, including delta-8 and other hemp-derived snacks and drinks, were designed to attract the attention of teens, even though the products could pose a threat to their health and safety.

Hemp products contain THC, the psychoactive cannabinoid that makes people high, but by definition have less than .3% of the chemical.

Additives and synthetic processes used by manufacturers, however, may alter products sold as hemp or delta-8 to be stronger and more intoxicating.

The stores selling those kinds of products are likely to attract crime and violence, Quinn and Tabares said.

“I’m worried,” Quinn said. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Less than 24 hours before the committee vote, a bill backed by Pritzker that would have limited the sale of intoxicating hemp products to licensed cannabis dispensaries failed to advance to a vote. Currently, those products are for sale in smoke shops and gas stations across the state.

Johnson lobbied furiously against that bill, concerned that it would make it impossible for the city to generate tens of millions of dollars in new tax revenue from the sale of the increasingly popular products.

A spokesperson for the governor said he was “disappointed that lawmakers failed to take bipartisan, common-sense action to protect children and the public from unregulated and untested hemp products.”

In a statement, Johnson praised Democratic lawmakers for preventing a vote on the bill, saying any legislation should keep intoxicating hemp products out of the hands of children and teens with “regulation that support entrepreneurs and municipalities.”

Pritzker told reporters the failure of the bill to advance was a tragedy.

Before the committee vote Tuesday, several frequent critics of Johnson sided with the governor, and urged state lawmakers to pass the bill Pritzker supports — whatever the blow to the city’s finances might be.

“This is not the one,” Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) said. “This is not the revenue stream this city needs and our city deserves better.”

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) called the products, some of which are designed to look like familiar brands of candy and cookies, “disgusting” and said it was shameful that Johnson supported their sale outside of cannabis dispensaries, which are tightly regulated by the state.

“We are supposed to protect kids,” Waguespack said. “I don’t want the revenue from this.”

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