Illinois Uses $3.5 Million In Marijuana Revenue To Prevent Violence

Illinois officials announced on Friday that they are awarding $3.5 million in grants funded by marijuana tax revenue to organizations that work to reduce violence through street intervention programs.

This is the latest funding opportunity to be made available through the Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) Program, which was created under Illinois’s cannabis legalization law. The policy stipulates that 25 percent of marijuana tax dollars must go to community reinvestment for communities most impacted by violence, incarceration and poverty.

The new grants will support efforts to specifically combat violence during the summer months, when crime is typically highest.

“We have to address the root causes of violence and invest in communities and the people who deserve more resources and opportunities than they have historically been given” Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) said in a press release. “These grants will increase programming, job opportunities, provide safe spaces, and other positive outlets for youth and emerging adults. When we empower people, we change lives and communities.”

These grants will increase programming, job opportunities, provide safe spaces, and other positive outlets for youth and emerging adults. When we empower people, we change lives and communities. #JEO@ICJIA_Illinoishttps://t.co/CYih7xozvz

— Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton (@LtGovStratton) July 16, 2021

Organizations based in 12 cities across Illinois—including Chicago and Joliet—will receive the funding. They include Bethel Family Resource Center, Boxing Out Negativity Inc., Free Lunch Academy, The Outlet and Youth With A Positive Direction.

“Using a public health approach, this emergency response to summer violence will expand and increase resources aimed at addressing the risk of escalating violence, which is experienced each year in the state’s most vulnerable communities,” Delrice Adams, acting director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), said.

Illinois has proved to have a robust adult-use cannabis market that has generated significant tax revenue for these and other purposes.

Based on monthly data, Illinois is set to see more than $1 billion in adult-use marijuana sales in 2021. And that, of course, means more tax dollars. Last year, Illinois sold about $670 million in cannabis and took in $205.4 million in tax revenue.

Illinois began taking in more tax dollars from marijuana than alcohol earlier this year, the state Department of Revenue reported in May. From January to March, Illinois generated about $86,537,000 in adult-use marijuana tax revenue, compared to $72,281,000 from liquor sales.

June was the fourth month in a row that recreational marijuana sales exceeded $100 million, according to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Last month saw a slightly higher monetary sum at $116,380,348 worth of cannabis purchases, albeit for fewer individual items sold.

Illinois officials have emphasized that the tax dollars from all of these sales are being put to good use. For example, the state announced in January that it is distributing $31.5 million in grants funded by marijuana tax dollars to communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.

Awarding the new grant money is not all that Illinois is doing to promote social equity and repair the harms of cannabis criminalization. Pritzker announced in December that his office had processed more than 500,000 expungements and pardons for people with low-level cannabis convictions on their records.

Relatedly, a state-funded initiative was recently established to help residents with marijuana convictions get legal aid and other services to have their records expunged.

But promoting social equity in the state’s cannabis industry has proved challenging. Illinois has faced criticism from advocates and lawsuits from marijuana business applicants who feel officials haven’t done enough to ensure diversity among business owners in the industry.

Pritzker signed a bill that took effect on Thursday that is meant to build upon the state’s legalization law by creating more cannabis business licensing opportunities that are meant to help people from disproportionately impacted communities enter into the marijuana industry.

—Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,100 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.—

Regulators announced that they will hold three lotteries to award new licenses.

Meanwhile, a House committee recently approved a resolution that broadly condemns the war on drugs, calling it “the United States’ longest and costliest war and ultimately a complete and shameful failure.”

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Illinois Awards $31.5 Million In Marijuana-Funded Grants To Repair Communities Harmed By Drug War

Illinois officials announced on Thursday that the state is distributing $31.5 million in grants funded by marijuana tax revenue to communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.

The funds are part of the state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which was established under Illinois’s adult-use cannabis legalization law. It requires 25 percent of marijuana tax dollars to be put in that fund and used to provide disadvantaged people with services such as legal aid, youth development, community reentry and financial support.

For this round, 80 organizations that offer such services for eligible communities were chosen by the R3 board. Grant recipients include local governments, faith-based organizations and businesses.

According to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), the state received 398 completed applications for the grants.

Breaking‼️ #R3 Board Approves $31.5 million dollars in social equity grants! #JEO#twill#cannabisLegal@GovPritzker@LtGovStrattonpic.twitter.com/v2ftUoQH53

— ICJIA (@ICJIA_Illinois) January 21, 2021

Lt. Gov. Julianna Stratton (D), who chairs the board and has repeatedly discussed the need to couple legalization with social equity, told The Chicago Sun-Times that there was an outpouring of interest in the funding opportunity, and so the state had to be diligent when reviewing applications, holding webinars and meetings to determine how best to allocate the grant money.

“The R3 program will tackle chronic problems that have gone unaddressed for far too long in our underserved neighborhoods,” Stratton said in a press release. “The collaboration between the Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Initiative and ICJIA is innovative and reinvents the grant process with community inclusion and promotes a standard for equity and success that other states will hopefully take note of and emulate.”

The #R3 program invests 25% of tax revenues from adult-use cannabis into communities most impacted by mass incarceration and historic disinvestment. #JEO

You can learn more in the @Suntimes.https://t.co/ntuXbuBAtc

— Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton (@LtGovStratton) January 22, 2021

Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said that he’s “so proud to see this key equity goal in cannabis legalization move forward and I applaud the leaders in the General Assembly, ICJIA, and stakeholders across the state who made this moment possible.”

.@LtGovStratton and I remain committed to ensuring the adult-use cannabis industry reinvests in communities hardest hit by the failed war on drugs. That's why today we awarded $31.4M in cannabis tax revenue grants to support rebuilding those communities.https://t.co/uXX3Ktsxnd

— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) January 21, 2021

“By awarding this first round of R3 grants, we are taking another important step toward undoing the harms of the past, and Lt. Governor Stratton and I will continue to ensure equity is a top priority as the cannabis program moves forward,” he said.

Of the funds made available through this program, $28.3 million will go to service delivery and $3.1 million will be used for “assessment and planning initiatives.”

The process of selecting grantees involved an analysis of local data on issues like unemployment, gun violence, poverty and incarceration rates, as well as information sourced from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

The goal of the grant program is to empower groups to use their resources and expertise to repair the harms of cannabis criminalization and lift up communities that are most in need.

Communities United is receiving R3 funds to provide legal aid for low-income people, particularly as it concerns housing rights, for example, according to the Sun-Times. The Chicago Urban League and the Safer Foundation said they will use their grants to promote economic development in select, disadvantaged neighborhoods. The Chicago Torture Justice Center will use its resources to aid in community reentry for formerly incarcerated people and those who’ve experienced police violence.

Grant distributions vary from about $20,000 to nearly $2 million. The NAACP Westside Chicago Branch is getting more than $1.8 million, for example, and the University of Illinois will receive $318,000. The government of Illinois’s capital city, Springfield, secured an $80,000 grant, while the city of Rockford got $520,790. Branches of the Urban league, United Way and YMCA are also receiving cannabis money.

Awarding the new grant money is not all that Illinois is doing to promote social equity and repair the harms of cannabis criminalization. For example, Pritzker announced late last month that his office had processed more than 500,000 expungements and pardons for people with low-level cannabis convictions on their records.

Relatedly, a state-funded initiative was recently established to help residents with marijuana convictions get legal aid and other services to have their records expunged.

The state has had a lot of marijuana tax revenue to work with, with sales consistently growing over the last year since the retail market launched. More than $1 billion in medical and adult-use cannabis products were purchased in 2020 alone, state data shows.

The sales figures are resulting in a much-needed windfall for state programs. In October, officials announced that the state had so far collected more than $100 million in revenue from cannabis sales since the market opened.

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U.S. Senator Visits Illinois Marijuana Dispensary To Talk Social Equity And Banking

Key state and federal officials representing Illinois met at a Chicago marijuana dispensary on Sunday to discuss the need for social equity and access to banking services in the cannabis industry.

The meeting, which comes weeks after the state’s first adult-use marijuana shops opened, featured U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D), the state deputy treasurer, the governor’s cannabis czar and state Sen. Robert Peters (D).

Deputy Treasurer Rodrigo Garcia was honored to join @SenDuckworth, @LtGovStratton, and others this afternoon to discuss Illinois’ new recreational cannabis program, the importance of social equity, and the need for banking options for cannabis businesses. pic.twitter.com/pIGBb4mzvU

— Michael W. Frerichs (@ILTreasurer) January 13, 2020

“People of color have been disproportionally arrested and incarcerated for marijuana-related offenses for decades, and I’m proud Illinois is working to make legalization of recreational cannabis equitable for all,” Duckworth said in a press release. “I’ll keep working with these local leaders to make sure equity and justice are at the forefront of this process.”

Part of ensuring that the market is equitable means passing legislation at the federal level to shield financial institutions that service marijuana businesses from being penalized by regulators, the lieutenant governor said at the Mission South Shore dispensary in Chicago.

Thank you, @SenDuckworth, for convening a conversation about normalizing banking for #cannabis related businesses.

Partnership with the #banking industry is critical and financial products to serve the market are especially important for entrepreneurs of color. #JEO#equitypic.twitter.com/5b29PGZr7u

— Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton (@LtGovStratton) January 13, 2020

State Treasurer Michael Frerichs agreed that solving cannabis businesses’ financial services access issues is important.

“I want to thank U.S. Sen. Duckworth for hosting this important discussion and for her leadership on this issue. We must change old banking laws, ensure public safety, and promote fairness within the cannabis industry,” he told Marijuana Moment. “For the past couple of years, we have pushed for state and federal changes to make sure these legitimate and legal cannabis businesses can use banks and credit unions like other legitimate and legal businesses. Doing so will minimize the risk of theft and promote safety for this industry.”

To that end, Duckworth is a cosponsor of a bipartisan bill to free up banks to work with the cannabis industry. She’s also signed onto legislation to federally deschedule marijuana.

4Front Ventures President Kris Krane, whose company operates the Mission South Shore shop, told Marijuana Moment that the senator “expressed optimism” that banking reform can be achieved in Congress, though she recognized that the chair of the Senate Banking Committee’s recent comments on proposed changes to the House-passed version of the legislation pose a challenge.

According to Krane, Duckworth said at the dispensary that Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID), whose panel has jurisdiction over the Secure and Faire Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, was using “delay tactics” when he announced last month that he wants to revise the bill so that only businesses selling marijuana products with a maximum of two percent THC can access financial services, among other changes.

The senator also “floated the idea that it might wind up [attached to] a larger omnibus bill if Crapo winds up stonewalling,” Krane said. However, “they’re going to continue to try to work with Banking Committee to try to get it done there.”

Watch a short ABC 7 news segment on the cannabis meeting below:

“First of all, just the fact that all of these high-ranking elected official were comfortable not only having the discussion but having it inside a legal cannabis dispensary shows just how much progress we’ve made on this issue,” he said. “We were really honored to host them, to participate in this discussion and I genuinely believe that some progress is going to come out of this.”

The meeting, which also involved a tour of the shop, represents the latest in a series of high-profile dispensary visits made by politicians interested in reform.

For example, this is at least the second cannabis dispensary visit for the lieutenant governor, who was among the first customers to purchase a marijuana product in Illinois on the first day of legal sales on January 1.

Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, talked to workers about cannabis issues at a dispensary in Las Vegas last year. Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA) made an appearance at a California marijuana shop in November and also discussed banking problems and legislation to end cannabis prohibition.

In 2018, then-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) took a cannabis tour to a dispensary in California with a busload of senior citizens.

This story was updated to include comment from Frerichs.

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Photo courtesy of Kris Krane/4Front.