Cannabis has been federally outlawed since 1937, but its surrounding stigma has been eased over the recent decades. As such, proposed plans for the legalization of recreational marijuana use in Illinois have shifted from “when” to “how.” Senator Heather Steans (D) and Representative Kelly Cassidy (D)—both Parker parents and members of the Illinois General Assembly—are spearheading the “how,” vying for the gold standard of substance regulation together.

The Illinois Capitol opens as early as 7:00 a.m., and the visitor entrance to the building is a short walk from the west parking lot. Past the security checkpoint and through the hallway, the Capitol’s tall central dome and tower roofs, it turns out, are covered in zinc to prevent wear.

Steans’ workday begins with a 9:00 appropriation hearing in the Senate Committee Room 212, the largest of the committee rooms. The day ahead is tightly packed, eclectic. Executives from the Illinois Department of Revenue are at the witness stand to discuss this fiscal year’s governor-issued state budget. The process is “less dramatic than jumping out of an airplane,” as an executive remarks, but recent commodity savings are also nothing to overlook.

Steans, the Chairwoman of the committee, is seated at the head of the room in the semicircular chambers suite, Republican senators to her left and Democratic senators to her right and spectators straight ahead. Some senators at the head of the room whisper and exchange glances, peddling ideas with paper and pen. The hearing goes on for over two more hours until six Illinois departments have overviewed their budgeting.

Steans serves on a number of committees in addition to the appropriations committee. She addresses the environment, pensions, and Medicaid, as well. As a state senator, she says that her work on these topics is uniquely rewarding: “We get to totally reform the way we deliver healthcare. You couldn’t do that on the federal level. In the state, you’re making a lot of those decisions.”

Additionally, Steans is currently co-sponsoring Senate Bill 0007, which is intended to allow Illinois residents ages 21 and over to purchase and possess up to 30 grams of cannabis. Under current law in Illinois, the possession of up to 10 grams of cannabis has been decriminalized and now constitutes a civil penalty punishable by a maximum fine of $200, and possession of 10 to 30 grams is considered a Class B misdemeanor.

The sponsors and advocates of Senate Bill 7 (SB 0007) are now working to flesh out issue areas within the purview of taxation and regulation of cannabis legalization. As of now, Steans and her collaborators hope to have a public draft filed in roughly a month.

The progress on fine details of nuanced bills like these can draw out for months or years. At the same time, however, Upper School history teacher and leader of Parker’s Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) chapter Jeanne Barr believes, “Public policy is the best when there is time for input. That is the democratic process that ought to happen.”

Illinois State Senator Heather Steans has been working in public policy in the Illinois Senate for 10 years, even though she never planned on running for an elected office initially: “It was never a goal,” she said. “My predecessor, Carol Ronen, knew my husband, who was lobbying at the time. When she was thinking about retiring, she was the one who thought, ‘Maybe Heather would be interested.’”

Nevertheless, Steans says that she has always been interested in public policy, which she has formally studied at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “In my job as an elected official,” she said, “there are three main chunks of the job: one is the policy piece, which is the most fun for me; the politics piece—who you align with, who you support, and election; then there is the chunk for constituent service.” She represents the 7th district of Illinois, the same number that is assigned to the recreational cannabis bill.

Steans heads to the Senate Chamber after lunch. The large open spaces in the hallways on the way there have pervasive, gilded wooden walls, with historical portraits of politicians hung up as well as detailed stenciling and stylized paintings of patterns of flowers.

The Senate Chamber, colloquially termed “the Floor,” is not quiet. Lobbyists and protesters stand by the entrances. On the inside, from the upper podium, the Senate President presides over the legislative process. The senators’ desks are roll-tops made of mahogany with a walnut burl. Each of these 66 desks has personal devices, intercoms, and drawers. Connected in semi-circled rows facing the center podium, the desks split the room in two, forming the main aisle, which is carpeted with geometric patterns.

As the Senate President takes attendance and lists out a number of bills on the agenda, the Floor is energetic, rowdy even. Senators continue a balancing act of negotiating with each other on the side, small-talking, and exchanging contact information.

After leaving the Floor, Steans returns to her personal office. There, she has a desk, armchairs, photos, and other commonplace decors. Community organizers, colleagues, and others are in and out of the office from time to time to see her, all with different subjects to discuss.

In a recent survey organized by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 780,000 Illinois adults reported that they had used cannabis within the past month, and the legislation outlines a tax structure which projects that full legalization of adult use of cannabis would generate between $350 million and $700 million annually in new revenue for the state.

According to Barr, though, 100 years of the drug war has birthed police priorities that tend to target the poor and communities of color, causing a disproportionate amount of small-crime felons to be barred from the cannabis industry, already leaving an uneven playing field at the inception.

In December 2018, Representative Kelly Cassidy spoke on this issue, telling the Cannabis Wire, “We want to reach as far back and get as many people’s records cleared as possible. We want to improve access to the industry, and create more on-ramps for women and people of color to get into this industry and take part in this growth.”

Governor Pritzker’s campaign statements from 2018 show an awareness of these equity issues and the potential of the industry; Cassidy and Steans are, too, so Barr is “hopeful that this is a cornerstone of any cannabis bill that is signed into law.”

Another impetus for Illinois politicians to enact substance use law is part of the revenue goes directly to the General Revenue Fund, the principal funding source for most government operations in Illinois.

Recent studies from the University of Illinois concluded that the state is poised for a $1.6 billion cannabis market. Other revenue provided by the state’s sales tax, would generate $525 million more for the state and nearly 24,000 jobs.

Such a tax would be among the highest in the country, but Cassidy—who grew up in a coastal community and has advocated for change in the criminal justice system throughout her professional career—believes that the outcome is worth the cost:

“These are good jobs. They pay well. They have career paths. The reality is that many of the states have moved to full legalization…but nobody’s hit the mark yet,” Cassidy said.

As to whether or not SB 0007 will ultimately pass, Barr said that “Cassidy and Steans are both veteran lawmakers now who have strong reputations.” Barr did not know of the opposition that they face, but the trend seems to be toward legalization: “All of the predictions say that we will have this in 2019 pass into law. It will take effect in early 2020.”

In the past year, Senator Steans and Representative Cassidy have surveyed a number of counties in the state, and Steans said that “the public polling shows that about two-thirds of Illinoisans support it, no matter where you live in the state.”

Going green is taking on a new meaning in the United States. Two decades ago, cannabis use was outlawed in all 50 states. With the legalization of recreational marijuana in Michigan in December 2018, 33 states in the country have enacted laws permitting the use of cannabis, mostly for medical purposes.

But, according to Senator Steans, “we also need much better public education to encourage teens to not use substances” due to its adverse effects on developing brains. In general, however, trends show that medical and recreational laws for adults will loosen with time, and Parker students will fit into that with the rest of the citizenry, according to Barr. However, Barr also posed that the reforms Illinois will make should simultaneously assist industry and the social justice system.

She believes the crowning piece of cannabis legislation in Illinois to be a system-wide overhaul of bail-bond debt cycles, expungement, and sealing of records, and other restorative practices that dismantle drug war structures and foster the ever-enduring march toward success in Illinoian communities: That—Barr said—“would be the gold standard, indeed.”