Keep putting the pressure on
Tuesday, Apr 22, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Local governments banning hemp shops might be the only thing that will bring the intoxicating hemp lobby to the table to negotiate in good faith. It’s happening in the suburbs and in Chicago. Press release…
Chicago Aldermen’s Hemp Bans Threaten Small Businesses, Veterans, and Consumers
ILHAA Calls for Reasonable Regulation, Not Prohibition
CHICAGO, IL — Several Chicago Aldermen have recently introduced sweeping bans on the sale of federally legal hemp products in their wards, a move that Illinois Healthy Alternatives (ILHAA) and community members say is both short-sighted and harmful. These bans are being enacted without community input, despite the far-reaching impacts on consumers, veterans, seniors, and small business owners.
In what appears to be an attempt to prevent underage access to hemp-derived products like CBD and Delta-8 THC, Aldermen are pursuing outright bans rather than implementing responsible regulations such as age restrictions, independent product testing, and clear labeling standards.
“These bans are throwing the baby out with the bath water,” said Justin Ward, ILHAA President]. “If the goal is to protect children, there are proven, reasonable approaches available. Banning all hemp products punishes responsible retailers and hurts the very people these products are helping.”
Hemp-derived products are widely used for wellness purposes, including pain and stress relief, anxiety management, and sleep support. Veterans, seniors, and even pet owners rely on these legal products, which were made federally compliant under the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp seeds also offer valuable nutritional benefits. Hemp is being used increasingly for sustainable building materials, fuels, and even clothing.
The hemp industry has created thousands of jobs and provided economic opportunities for independent farmers and small businesses nationwide. These local actions undermine federal law and set a dangerous precedent for policymaking without public participation.
“In Chicago, if a community wants to remove a liquor establishment, it requires a local vote,” added Everett Berry, owner of Mia’s Heart. “Yet Aldermen are unilaterally banning hemp without any public process. This is not how democracy is supposed to work.”
ILHAA is calling on the City Council to pursue thoughtful regulation rather than heavy-handed prohibition. Reasonable policies can protect young people while allowing lawful businesses to continue serving their communities. If the bans are enforced, consumers can move to online purchases with no city regulation or taxation.
Nothing is really going to happen until the Illinois House Democratic leadership finally realizes that its outlier position against intoxicating hemp regulations could ultimately backfire on that industry. Some quality hemp establishments exist, but there are way too many janky places which openly sell who knows what to underage kids. I doubt that any members of House leadership want their children buying questionable products from these places. Why, then, do they continue to protect them?
Other than the inherent criminal justice reform that came with cannabis legalization (and using some of the tax proceeds to help communities harmed by the so-called War on Drugs), the greatest benefit was transparency for consumers. They now know what they’re buying because the product’s production, distribution and retail processes are regulated. Intoxicating hemp consumers currently have zero quality guarantees.
- H-W - Tuesday, Apr 22, 25 @ 9:47 am:
=== Why, then, do they continue to protect them? ===
Because they keep listening to the dealers, and hearing the complaints of the users.
Democrats need to develop a backbone on this issue, instead of allowing the dealers to deal drugs to children. It really is that simple. It is not a race issue. It is a class issue.
- Center Drift - Tuesday, Apr 22, 25 @ 10:01 am:
I am not and never plan to be a Hemp or other mood altering substance user ( of the non- nutritive variety). But if we say it’s okay to use these products then let’s put away the pretense of limiting where you can buy these products. Let the marketplace be the deciding factor.
- H-W - Tuesday, Apr 22, 25 @ 10:36 am:
@ Center Drift
Ah, if only life were as simple as simpletons wish it to be.
We have children in Illinois purchasing all sorts of hemp products that are in unregulated, and in many cases illegally deceptive in content. Children do not need to have access to hemp products, nor do they have citizenship rights to access all of society as if they were adults.
Meanwhile, as the post notes, there are legal and credible dispensaries of non-marijuana based hemp products available to adults and to children with prescriptions. There are also marijuana-based products available to adults, but not children.
This is the society we live in, and the society most people want. A regulated society in which children are protected from the realities that exist in the adult world, because some of those realities can cause harm in the hands of those incapable of abstract reasoning, and of limited concrete reasoning.
Your libertarian approach suggesting babies and infants and toddlers and children and teens are each and all equally entitled members of the citizenry if foolishness.
The problem is not that hemp is avaiable. It is that it is not regulated at the production level, and it not regulated at the distribution level. That you cannot imagine problems with that scenario does not mean that there are not problems with that scenario.
And don’t get me started on Kratom.
- ChicagoBars - Tuesday, Apr 22, 25 @ 11:30 am:
I very much enjoyed the ILGAA member highlighting all the OTHER ways Chicago City Council could jam up hemp sales legislatively by using the same administrative tools they already have for alcohol sales. Really well done job there. Kudos.
But also LOL if you think you’re going to win hemp ban referenda in wards across Chicago next dall. But on behalf of petition circulators and election law lawyers livelihoods I’d enjoy the Chicago ballot box fight your press release is also inviting.
- ChicagoBars - Tuesday, Apr 22, 25 @ 11:32 am:
My bad, should have typed “the ILHAA member inviting….”
But my point is the same, daring Chicago City Council to pass the exact same restrictions that have long existed for alcohol sales is incredibly dumb strategy.
- Give Us Barabbas - Tuesday, Apr 22, 25 @ 1:16 pm:
The hemp intoxicants lobby has shown a lack of good faith. I would do a complete ban on it while new regulations are worked out. That would speed the negotiations up quite a bit.