Recreational Pot Shops Banned In Orland Park

ORLAND PARK, IL — Recreational marijuana businesses won't be coming to Orland Park when the plant becomes legal next year. Trustees in the village voted unanimously earlier this week to prohibit such businesses in the village. The vote that keeps marijuana out of Orland Park comes about five years after officials there decided to ban medicinal marijuana businesses as well.

This vote was to pass Ordinance 5436, an ordinance creating a new Chapter 21 prohibition of cannabis business establishments of Title 7 business and license of the Orland Park Village Code, the village stated in a news release.

Opponents of allowing recreational marijuana in Orland Park include Police Chief Tim McCarthy and Trustee James Dodge. A Daily Southtown report states that McCarthy said during the meeting recreational marijuana will likely lead to issues for law enforcement because there is no field test available for police to determine whether or not someone is under the influence of marijuana. And Dodge said it is "deeply troubling" that individual municipalities are on the front lines of dealing with the new state law's repercussions.

Mayor Keith Pekau has taken the same anti-marijuana stance.

“I’m against legalizing it (marijuana) and always have been," Pekau said. "Drug use has and continues to damage our society. In my opinion we don’t need another mind altering drug.”

“I don’t see any benefits to legalizing recreational marijuana. Tax money is always less than expected and the social costs will be higher than the revenue generated.”

The new Illinois recreational cannabis law permits marijuana to be sold to anyone over the age of 21 and consumed in private homes and businesses in January. Marijuana will be available over the counter to more than 12 million people in Illinois, and will be taxed at a sliding scale, depending on the level of the active psychoactive ingredient THC in the product sold. Limitations apply on how much can be consumed, who can consume it, and where it can be consumed. The law also prohibits possessing cannabis near a school bus, a school, a correctional facility or in a vehicle if it's not "reasonably secured" and "reasonably inaccessible" while moving, or in a home used for child or social service care.

Read: Illinois Legal Weed: Who Can Buy, Sell, Use Marijuana Next Year?

Orland Park residents who want to smoke pot could have nearby Tinley Park as their outlet. Trustees there recently hinted at the possibility of them approving recreational marijuana dispensaries.