Algonquin To Vote On Prohibiting Marijuana Tuesday

ALGONQUIN, IL — The Algonquin Village Board is expected to vote Tuesday on prohibiting businesses in town to sell marijuana once it becomes legal for recreational use in the New Year, the Northwest Herald reports. Village officials looked into the positives and negatives associated with allowing marijuana sales in town, citing the potential for more crime and the likelihood of such businesses moving into space along the busy Randall Road and Algonquin Road corridors as a drawback.

“The board decided it is not the village’s brand, and at this time we are not interested in having recreational cannabis sales,” Algonquin Village President John Schmitt said. “We don’t really think that [a recreational marijuana business] fits Algonquin’s brand as a conservative, family community.”

Under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, passed by state lawmakers this past summer, recreational cannabis can be sold to anyone over the age of 21 and consumed in private homes and business starting next year. Marijuana will be available over the counter to more than 12 million people in Illinois — more than the population of Washington and Oregon combined and twice as many people as Colorado — starting Jan. 1, 2020. It will be taxed at a sliding scale, depending on the level of the active psychoactive ingredient THC is in any given product.

While any adult with a valid ID will be able to buy marijuana, there are limitation on how much, who can consume it and where it can be consumed. The law does not prohibit employers from banning marijuana use among employees and forbid landlords from banning tenants from smoking it.

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