Should Illinois legalize marijuana? Not so fast

When they became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, Colorado and Washington started something big. Since then, another eight states, along with the District of Columbia, have followed suit, including California, Massachusetts and — a Midwest first — Michigan. Gov. J. B. Pritzker is eager to see Illinois join the movement.

Embracing pot may turn out to be a fine idea in the end. But our advice is to slow down the rush to legislation, pay attention to what’s happened in these other jurisdictions and give serious consideration to the problems that could arise. It’s more important to make the policy right than to make it quickly.

Illinois was late to the game in approving medical use of marijuana in 2013. It limited access to patients with one of some 35 conditions. In 2016, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a bill removing criminal penalties for possession of small amounts. Last year, the medical program was expanded to allow cannabis for patients with severe pain, as an alternative to prescription opioids.

The advantage Illinois has is the opportunity to learn from experiences elsewhere. Sanctioning the adult use of cannabis is a big change from the prohibition that was the national norm for decades — and that is still mandated by federal law. Not everyone, by the way, is on board. Among the groups opposing legalization are the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the state chapter of the NAACP and the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.

Legalization has much to recommend it, but it also has potential downsides. The question is not just whether to permit recreational marijuana but also how.

We worry that our leaders smell money and will hurry to grab it. The state of Colorado took in nearly $267 million last year from marijuana taxes and fees. Colorado has about half the population of Illinois, so it’s safe to assume the annual take here would be about twice as large — something like $530 million.

That’s a good chunk of change. But it’s equal to only about 1.3 percent of the $39 billion that Pritzker proposes to spend next year. The sum should not dazzle legislators into hasty action.

Read more: Activists on both sides are pushing hard as marijuana legalization bill looms in Illinois »

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, and state Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, have been working for some time on legislation to legalize recreational cannabis. They say they plan to introduce legislation soon. But it’s mid-April. The legislature will adjourn next month. The General Assembly includes many new members who were sworn in in January. Lawmakers, and the public, deserve time to study and debate the language of an actual bill, not just talking points. They should be able to do so in light of the experiences in other states as they go forward. Michigan hasn’t even begun commercial sales yet.

We’re talking about a dramatic change in this state’s drug policy. Supporters can give plenty of reasons why it’s a good idea, but legalizing recreational marijuana is not an issue the legislature should jam through in the frenzied weeks before adjournment.

The likely benefits are clear. It would spare users the threat of arrest and incarceration, relieve cops from enforcing laws that are widely ignored, and spare taxpayers the costs of enforcement and punishment. It would allow adults to enjoy a substance that is less detrimental to health than alcohol or tobacco.

Decriminalization helps, but it consigns production and sales to a black market that rewards criminal gangs and cartels. It leaves users exposed to an unregulated substance that is often adulterated with toxic ingredients — including fentanyl, a potent and sometimes deadly opioid. It doesn’t furnish special safeguards for teens.

Legalization would put the industry under the sort of regulation that has long been used for alcohol, which has much to recommend it. But there are hazards that need to be addressed. If pot is legalized, the goal should be to provide a safe harbor for responsible consumption while discouraging abuse.

Among the rules that deserve consideration are warning labels, limits on potency, strict controls on edibles, local authority over the location of retail shops, tough penalties for sales to minors and strictures on advertising.

How to detect impairment among drivers who use cannabis is a challenge. Setting the tax rate is also important: Too low, and the revenue is less than it could be; too high, and buyers will turn to the black market.

States that have embraced legalization are grappling with all these issues, and Illinois policymakers would be wise to give those experiments a bit more time to produce useful information. Learning from their mistakes is the best way to avoid making more of them here.

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