[[{“value”:”
CITY HALL — Hemp and licensed marijuana business owners at odds over what is allowed to get you high crossed paths at City Hall Thursday to watch local officials feud over the issue — all while state-level regulatory discussions have stalled.
Ald. William Hall (6th), a top ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson and chairperson of a committee focused on finding new revenue for the city, called Thursday’s hemp safety regulation hearing as he pushes an ordinance to establish a 21-and-up age requirement for hemp-derived THC products “capable of producing a psychoactive effect.”
During the hearing that spanned more than three hours, Hall brought out “industry experts” who own hemp businesses and leaders of Johnson’s business and health departments who expressed an eagerness to help the city regulate the products. Hall has claimed the budget-crunched city can reap tens of millions of dollars in yearly tax revenue on a mission against “prohibition.”
“But this is not an opportunity for blood money,” Hall said while flanked by hemp business owners at a press conference before the hearing, emphasizing he was “righting the wrongs” of a state cannabis license rollout that locked out minority entrepreneurs from a budding billion-dollar industry.
A loophole in 2018 federal farming legislature that legalized growing industrial hemp has propped up hundreds of city businesses that now sell its small traces of THC extract in highly concentrated edibles, drinks, vapes and pre-rolled joints. Such products are often marketed like those offered in licensed dispensaries but sold at lower prices since they are not heavily taxed by the state.
RELATED: Hemp Loophole Causing Chaos In City Hall, Springfield — But Smoke Shop Owners ‘Ready To Fight’
A state bill championed by Gov. JB Pritzker to ban intoxicating hemp products outside of dispensaries failed to pass after some Democrats criticized the proposal for not giving small business owners a second chance at selling a more regulated buzz. Hemp businesses have formed their own associations as they jockey to snatch influence away from the powerful cannabis lobby.
“We need responsible inclusion,” said Jason Knight, a former teacher who said he’s invested more than $240,000 into a business selling hemp-derived THC-infused sorbet that he safety checks through independent lab tests. “It’s deeply troubling when I imagine losing my livelihood.”
But minority dispensary owners who won the state’s coveted social equity licenses and opened stores with pricey operating costs joined Ald. Gil Villegas (36th) in an opposing press conference where Villegas slammed hemp businesses for “skirting the law.”
“We worked our butts off for these licenses,” said Reese Xavier of HT23 Growers. “The framework already exists … hemp should not receive a special deal.”
Licensed dispensary owners and growers came to City Hall wearing “Social Equity In Cannabis” shirts on Jan. 30, 2025 Credit: Mack Liederman/Block Club Chicago
Villegas called Hall’s hearing a “dog and pony show” and suggested the city wait for word from the state about how hemp is regulated, siding with other colleagues who punted the age-restriction measure to a rules committee where proposals are often sent to stall or die.
“It’s not just about the age, but what is actually in these products,” Villegas said. “The consumer still doesn’t know.”
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) led a third press conference with other anti-hemp hardliners in City Council, which business owners who stuck around after Hall’s press conference loudly interrupted with “dog and pony show” chants of their own. Hopkins threatened to have police remove them.
Hopkins, like Hall, also brought with him a doctor who backed his case.
“We are hearing anecdotal stories from the frontlines of an increasing number of young patients presenting to the emergency department [for] toxicology,” Hopkins said. “This is like we took the synthetic, intoxicating psychedelic compounds and injected them into the mushrooms Jewel sold in the produce section. Would that be legal?”
Hopkins, Villegas and Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd) took turns holding up hemp-derived THC products in packages resembling popular candies as a scrum of TV news cameras zoomed in.
“This right here is poison,” Tabares said. “It’s wrapped like candy, targeting our kids.”
Hopkins said his allies may resort to pushing outright bans of hemp products in their wards — similar to one recently passed by Tabares and Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) around the Midway area — if state lawmakers in Springfield can’t compromise on regulations soon.
Ald. Brenden Reilly (42nd) previously introduced an ordinance that would expand the Midway hemp ban to the entire city. Hall also sent it to the rules committee. Hopkins said he’d be open to saving the measure.
“I think a city ban is appropriate,” Hopkins said. “Not all my colleagues agree. Do we have [the needed] 26 votes? I’m not sure either side has 26 votes.”
Ald. Silvana Tabares (23nd) takes her turn holding up hemp-derived THC products packaged to resemble popular candies at City Hall on Jan. 30, 2025. Credit: Mack Liederman/Block Club Chicago
Both Hopkins and Tabares skipped Hall’s hearing on Thursday. Reilly did not come to City Hall, nor did he return requests for comment. Quinn called the hearing “a waste of time for my purposes” and stayed home.
Instead Quinn is now circulating a petition that would urge the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection — whose leaders are appointed by Johnson — to enforce his ban on hemp products and smoke shops around Midway.
“I have concerns,” Quinn said when asked if the city would carry out the ban. He has 50 signatures of support so far that he collected at a CAPS meeting, “a good number for a really cold day,” Quinn said.
“Alderman Hall is a very nice man,” Quinn said. “But I’ve heard loud and clear from my residents they’re not interested in this. I’m moving on.”
Hall, a first-time alderperson closely aligned with Johnson, said he was unbothered by the no-shows, calling his hearing a “mission accomplished” and promising to now introduce ordinances laying out how the city would regulate hemp.
“They might have been busy,” Hall said. “But hopefully they won’t be busy further on.”
In November, Johnson texted Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) thanking her for her support after a press conference, to which she replied “I don’t blow smoke,” according to records obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
“I know you don’t … but we can tax it though (hemp),” Johnson responded.
Marz Brewing Company’s non-alcoholic hemp-infused beverages. Credit: Provided
At the hearing, Dowell and other alderpeople expressed confusion about what they were talking about, from the differences between hemp products marked as Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC to a rule that requires hemp to technically test no more than 0.3 percent THC at its dry weight. Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) asked if there are rules against smoking cannabis in public. There are.
“I’m still learning,” Dowell said.
Ivan Capifali, acting commissioner of the city’s business affairs department, said his department would create a “retail licensing schematic” that would require city-issued hemp licenses and distance restrictions from day cares and schools with penalties for shops that break the rules. Hall said the city would commission third-party labs to test hemp for quality standards.
“Hemp has advanced potential to benefit our economy and our local communities,” Capifali said.
Health Department Commissioner Olusimbo Ige said regulating hemp at the city-level would require help from other partners.
“In any industry there’s good actors and there’s bad actors. We want there to be a health code to help determine who the bad actors are,” Ige said. “Right now it’s a free-for-all. … What should we do? Just ignore?”
Ald. Matt Martin (47th) worried that having the city regulate hemp “strikes me to be much more challenging in practice than we think.”
Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th) said the city was “setting itself up to go down a rabbit hole.”
“There are very few other consumable products the city really regulates,” Lawson said. “We don’t test chicken to see it’s real chicken.”
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), not shy about his own medical use of cannabis, wasn’t sure regulating hemp was the right business for Chicago to get into.
“The state is going to figure it out anyway,” Vasquez said.
Hall concluded Thursday’s hearing by inviting three hemp business owners to speak. One woman said she was inspired to open an “apothecary-style” store after a CBD product helped her dog manage pain.
“Trips Ahoy and Zkittlez, it makes me so angry and we want it gone,” she said, referring to THC-infused products packaged to look like candy. “We’re just starting to learn the possibilities of this plant.”
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
“}]] The fight to regulate hemp has found its way to City Hall, where an alderman asked Thursday what exactly it is anyway. Read More
