Illinois cannabis business owners are pleading for relief from the state's "steep licensing fees" and "overly burdensome" regulations.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, joining several of those business owners Sunday at a news conference on the Near West Side, urged his colleagues in the Illinois General Assembly to reform the state's recreational and medical cannabis laws to give social equity licensees a fair playing field in the market.
"Recreational cannabis legalization ... was really sold to the General Assembly and the community to end the war on drugs and to help rebuild the communities that were hardest hit," said Ford, who has long championed social equity efforts in the state's legal marijuana industry.
"The truth is the dream of being a cannabis business owner in Illinois is falling far short," said Ford, who represents parts of Chicago's West Side in the Legislature.
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