Tinley Residents Support All Kinds Of Pot Businesses: Survey

TINLEY PARK, IL — Support for recreational marijuana in Tinley Park is high, according to the results of a recent survey that garnered more than 2,500 responses from people who identified themselves as residents of the village. Data from the survey shows about 68 percent of residents support recreational marijuana businesses while about 30 percent oppose them.

The survey asked about four different kinds of recreational pot businesses that could open in the village after the plant becomes legal in Illinois on Jan. 1, 2020: retail recreational dispensaries, indoor cultivation centers, manufacturing facilities for extraction/infusion and cannabis cafes/smoke lounges.

Most responses were to either "strongly support" or "strongly oppose" all of those types of businesses. Those are the numbers indicated in "support" or "oppose" below. Responses of "somewhat support" and "somewhat oppose" aren't included in this next paragraph.

For retail recreational dispensaries, 62.95 percent of respondents voted to support while 28.11 voted to oppose. Indoor cultivation centers received 58.38 percent to support and 26.68 percent to oppose. Manufacturing facilities were voted at 56.50 percent support and 26.87 percent oppose and cannabis cafes/smoke lounges received 49.75 percent support to 33.10 percent oppose.

Nearly 94 percent of the survey's respondents said they live in Tinley Park.

Trustees in the village will discuss at their Tuesday, Dec. 3 meeting whether or not to opt out of the cannabis law and ban dispensaries. If they do, a decision on that could be made at the Tuesday, Dec. 17 meeting. If not, the board will vote on future zoning and taxation of dispensaries that will open here.