Village to hold public hearing on marijuana dispensaries

The Village of St. Joseph will hold a public hearing to discuss allowing marijuana dispensaries in town.

The hearing will take place on August 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Joseph Middle School gym.

On June 25, 2019 Illinois became the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana. Under the law, adults age 21 and older will be allowed to purchase recreational marijuana starting Jan. 1, 2020.

Currently, there are 55 licensed medical marijuana dispensaries throughout Illinois. Medical marijuana has been legal since 2014. The new law allows these dispensaries to apply for adult-use retail licenses to sell recreational marijuana. They may also apply to open a second retail location.

The state will also issue up to 75 adult-use marijuana retail licenses to applicants by May 1, 2020.

Illinoisans will be able to legally possess 30 grams of cannabis. The legal limit for cannabis concentrate is 5 grams. The limit for cannabis-infused products, such as edibles or tinctures, is 500 milligrams of THC. Illinois tourists will be allowed to possess half of those amounts.

Cities and counties may prohibit sales, but not possession.

Previous low-level convictions and arrests for marijuana will be pardoned and expunged.

Products with less than 35 percent THC will have a 10 percent sales tax. Edibles will have a 20 percent sales tax and products with a THC concentration higher than 35% will have a 25 percent sales tax. Illinois municipalities and counties will be able to levy additional local sales taxes.

Mayor Tami Fruhling-Voges said having a public hearing was important.

“We need to hear from our community and if we decide to do this we need to do it responsibly,” she said.

Those wishing to participate in the hearing will have to follow the board’s participation policy which requires residents to sign an attendance sheet and state their name and address for the record. Organized groups addressing the issue are asked to please choose a spokesperson to represent the group and speak on the behalf of the group. Comments should be limited to five minutes and refrain from using profanity. The mayor reserves the right to limit repetitive comments or comments that are out of order.