Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Tuesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“On Dec. 31, Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois announced that he would issue 11,017 pardons to people with low-level marijuana convictions. That announcement came on the eve of the state’s marijuana legalization going into effect,” The Appeal notes.


“All told, state officials estimate that a total of 116,000 convictions involving 30 grams or less of marijuana are eligible for pardons under the new law, reported CBS News. The process is not automatic, but state officials have sought to make it as close to automatic as possible. There are also an estimated 572,000 marijuana arrests that will be expunged over the next five years. People may also apply for expungements of convictions for marijuana possession over 30 grams, putting the total number of possible pardons at over 700,000.
“That number is a reminder of the enormous scale of marijuana arrests in this country and the millions of people subjected to state force under marijuana prohibition. Marijuana laws, in Illinois and elsewhere, moreover, were and are not enforced equally. Despite similar rates of use between Black and white people, Black people are arrested for marijuana offenses at rates several times higher than those for white people.”
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In 2011, Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky reported for the Reader that “People all over Chicago smoke pot – but almost everyone busted for it is black.”
To wit:
“Yes, marijuana is illegal. Yet studies show – and come on, everybody knows – that it’s widely used by all racial groups. By and large, however, black people are disproportionately getting busted for it.
“The ratio of black to white arrests for marijuana possession in Chicago is 15 to 1, according to a Reader analysis of police and court data. And by the time the cases make their way through the court system, the gap widens even further: the ratio among those who plead or are found guilty is 40 to 1.
“Here’s another way to look at it: almost nine of every ten people who end up guilty of possessing marijuana in Chicago – 86 percent, to be precise – are black men.”
An additional idea on the social equity front: Let black men step to the front of these long lines.
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Meanwhile . . .
“Marijuana arrests keep going up in the U.S. even though more states are enacting cannabis legalization laws,” Forbes contributor and marijuana law reform Tom Angell advocate noted in October.
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But here in Illinois:
“On Thursday, January 2, the [Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation] concluded the first round of applications for new dispensary licenses. A preliminary count shows that more than 700 applicants submitted applications seeking almost 4,000 licenses. More than 600 of the applicants identified themselves as qualifying for social equity applicant status. The Department will award up to 75 new dispensary licenses, which will be announced by May 1, 2020.”
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And:
“A handful of marijuana dispensaries around Illinois halted recreational weed sales over the weekend and plan to remain closed to the public this week, as they deal with product shortages,” the Tribune reports.
“For months, dispensaries have anticipated marijuana shortages. Nearly every state that allows recreational marijuana has had stores run out of product or run low during the first days of sales.”
Remember, Illinois dispensaries can only sell marijuana grown by a licensed Illinois cultivator. Only home-grown for us!
“Many of the state’s 21 growing facilities are expanding capacity, but construction takes time, as does growing marijuana.”
Also: Medical marijuana comes first.
“Another factor at play is an increase in the medical marijuana patient count, which has roughly doubled in the past year. Illinois law requires dispensaries to make sure they have enough cannabis for medical patients.
“Some Illinois dispensaries said they were having difficulty keeping enough weed in stock for medical marijuana patients before recreational sales began. Dispensaries instituted buying limits last week and limited hours for recreational sales.”
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“Despite selling nearly $11 million worth of recreational weed in the first five days of legal weed, a half-dozen dispensaries in Chicago did no recreational sales Monday,” the Sun-Times reports.
“[T]he state’s cannabis cultivators are . . . feeling the pressure.
“Mark de Souza, CEO of Goose Island-based Revolution Global, said the company’s cultivation center in downstate Delavan is ‘getting buried now at a level that is even overtaxing our electronic ordering systems.’
“Products are selling out within three to six minutes each day, leaving dispensary operators frustrated, according to de Souza. He said Revolution has been shipping $200,000 worth of cannabis flower each week.”
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ChicagoReddit

Anyone interested in joining a competitive karaoke team? from r/chicago


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Replicant at the Empty Bottle on Saturday night.

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Experts Condemn Keto. Will People Finally Stop?

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A sampling of the delight and disgust you can find @BeachwoodReport.


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The Beachwood Tip Line: Rant-based.

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Posted on January 7, 2020