Cannabis omnibus not considered during lame-duck session
Illinois legislators have failed to pass one cannabis-related bill for four-years straight after two competing “intoxicating hemp” bills and a cannabis omnibus bill did not reach the floor for a vote during the lame-duck session in Springfield. While the battle over hemp regulations garnered most of the attention during the four-day session, the cannabis omnibus, House Bill 2911, and medical patients were left in the wake of the hemp battle and political posturing.
The cannabis omnibus, which contains provisions that would improve medical cannabis patients’ lives, did not reach a floor for a vote for the third legislative session in a row. The inaction on the bill during the lame-duck session was in part due to the strong focus and political battle over hemp regulation, specifically the passing (or stalling) of House Bill 4293. With the political capital and energy spend fighting over HB4293, legislators were not willing to take on a different cannabis-related bill during this session, again, pushing medical patients to the back of politicians’ priority list.
Provisions in HB2911 would allow for patients and caregivers to shop with medical tax rates at any Illinois dispensary, eliminate the requirement for a physical medical-cannabis examinations, and allow for drive-through pickup for adult-use consumers, among others. In May, the cannabis omnibus stalled after Green Thumb Industries (GTI) secretly and successfully lobbied to delete the provision that would have allowed medical patients and caregivers to shop at any Illinois dispensary at the current medical patient tax rate. The late deletion of that provision poisoned the bill enough that the bill was not brought to the floor for a vote, pausing the passing of all the other cannabis provisions as well.
GTI issued a statement claiming to have always supported patient access to medicine. “We have a history of championing patients, including leading advocacy efforts to ensure patients could access their products during the pandemic, and most recently, preserve curbside pickup services for patients,” the statement read. The proposed measure, HB 2911, GTI said, “included language that was neither operationally viable nor comprehensive enough for what Illinois patients deserve, such as requiring patient lanes or offering delivery services. Illinois legislators recognized the concerns and will continue working on this with the goal of passing it during veto session (this fall).”
The cannabis omnibus did not pass or even come to a floor vote during the fall veto session or lame-duck session. The next opportunity to pass a cannabis omnibus or other cannabis-related bills will be during the newly sworn-in 104th General Assembly’s first session.
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