Decatur Becomes Latest Illinois City To Reject Cannabis Sales

WGLT | By Eric Stock

Published October 2, 2019 at 1:19 PM CDT

It takes about six months for Revolution to grow, process, package, and sell its medical marijuana products.

The list of Illinois cities saying "no" to marijuana sales keeps growing.

This week, Decatur's city council voted to keep any cannabis dispensary or cannabis-related business from opening in the city.

Mayor Moore Wolfe said the city would not make enough money to overcome the problems legal pot will bring.

Several other Central Illinois communities have banned marijuana retail sales, including El Paso, Morton and Forsyth.

Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner said previously he hopes more communities opt out to potentially bring more marijuana business to his city if it can land a dispensary.

“This is me being purely Machiavellian as mayor to say, ‘Please, other communities, opt out so that (customers) have to come to Bloomington,” Renner joked to WGLT’s Ryan Denham in August.

In the Chicago area, Bolingbrook, Grayslake, Lake Zurich and Naperville have banned pot sales.

Naperville moved to ban recreational cannabis sales despite already having a medical marijuana dispensary. The city plans to hold a non-binding referendum on the issue in the future.

Marion and O'Fallon in Southern Illinois have done the same.

Bloomington's new cannabis task force holds its first meeting Thursday night at the Miller Park Pavilion. The 10-member group plans to focus largely on zoning and tax issues regarding the sale of cannabis when it becomes legal on Jan. 1, 2020.

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