Two Democratic lawmakers–also current Parker parents–have sponsored bills in the Illinois House and Senate for the legalization of recreational marijuana for Illinois residents aged 21 or older. State Senator Heather Steans, mother of sophomore Abigail Smith, and State Representative Kelly Cassidy, mother of sixth graders Ethan and Daniel Silets and sophomore Joshua Silets, believe this could be a major–and historic–step forward for Illinois.

Rep. Cassidy’s House Bill 2353, filed on February 2, aims to generate revenue for the debt-ridden state through taxation and job creation. This bill will also assist law enforcement by allowing them to focus their energies on more pressing issues. This bill will additionally work to undermine the black market for marijuana, and reduce the crime that accompanies illegal pot dealing.

The effort to decrease illegal pot use has been a major part of the problem, according to Cassidy, and it isn’t just hard on police. “We waste a lot of energy on enforcement of this particular drug law,” Cassidy said. “It’s not a good use of our resources, and it’s hugely disproportionately impacting communities of color.”

The State Representative has seen these issues in her work.  As a Criminal Justice Reformer in Cook County, Cassidy has worked to help Chicago communities being targeted on this issue.  She passed the Decriminalization Civil Ticket Act in 2016, for example, which worked to give fines rather than prison sentences for low level marijuana offenses.

Cassidy believes that it is important for people to know about the relative safety of cannabis, which gets a bad reputation from being labeled as a drug. “We’ve made pretty clear that it is at least as safe as alcohol, if not more so,” Cassidy said. “The drug no doubt is as safe as alcohol but is used by a demographic that tends to abuse these kind of substances, while their bodies aren’t ready for it.”

Consumption age is a concern for Cassidy.  “One thing we do know pretty clearly is that there is a big difference in the way that the psychoactive ingredients in cannabis acts on younger brains than adult brains,” Cassidy said. “Drug dealers don’t card, and this bill will make it harder for youth to get access to it.”

Steans, a co-sponsor of Cassidy’s bill, has introduced her own bill, Senate Bill 316, into the state senate.  She filed the legislation amendments for this bill on March 22. Steans’s bill, like Cassidy’s, would legalize marijuana and make it subject to the state’s 6.25% sales tax rate.

Marijuana is safe and beneficial when compared to opioids, according to Steans. “I have had a lot of sheriffs, mayors, and various people around the state reach out to me supporting it because of the opioid crisis,” Steans said. “If we can get more people to use marijuana to manage pain in place of opioids, I think there can be a positive impact.”

On March 22, Cassidy filed an amendment to House bill 2353, changing the state’s Cannabis Control, which holds all legislation pertaining to cannabis-related infringements. Steans’s bill would allow Illinois residents to carry up to 28 grams of cannabis legally.

The two bills are under review and gaining other sponsors among state senators and representatives.

Junior Margo Fuchs, of Parker’s Students For Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), noted marijuana’s connection to prison sentences and spoke to the value of legislation like that proposed by Steans and Cassidy. “We talk about mostly positive things about it,” Fuchs said, “like how it will change the issue of mass incarceration that is in our country right now.”

Upper School History and Social Studies Teacher and faculty advisor to SSDP Jeanne Barr reflected on her students’ work in SSDP.  Barr said, “They take the position that too much of our drug policies have been shaped in a climate of fear and lack of understanding in the absence of scientific research.” Parker’s SSDP chapter helps the push for drug policy reform.

Of course some find such reform–and the Steans and Cassidy proposals–concerning. “The age restrictions could still force many teens to have to buy off not legal dealers but more sketchy people,” junior and SSDP group member Jai Choudhary said, “so that could still be dangerous.”

SSDP met this year with Lori Lightfoot, an attorney for the Chicago law firm Mayer Brown, who chaired the Mayor’s committee that wrote the Police Accountability Task Force Report following the video of LaQuan McDonald’s being shot by police.

Lightfoot has taken a hard stance on drug policy reform, according to Barr, as she has historically been very tough on crime and believes cannabis is a gateway drug.  

Steans knows the work will take time. “This is not a bill that we plan to pass quickly,” she said.  “We think it’s going to take two more years to pass it. That’s really our goal.  Every state that has legalized marijuana so far has done so by a referendum. No state has actually passed it by law yet. So we’re looking to be one of the first to do that, and it’s gonna be a long time to accomplish that.”