Adults in Illinois who use legal cannabis during their free time would be protected from losing their jobs under a bill approved Thursday by the state’s House of Representatives.
“If we’re going to legalize the substance, you should talk about individual liberties and what people want to do on their weekends,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep.
In 2019, Illinois became the first state to legalize cannabis and launch a retail system for adults through an act of the legislature rather than a voter initiative.
Morgan’s workplace protection legislation contains exceptions for certain categories of employees, for example jobs where workers operate heavy machinery or aircraft, carry a weapon, perform emergency services or perform other safety-sensitive tasks.
The House passed an amended version of Morgan’s bill, HB 4116, on a 61–41 vote on Thursday, with one member voting present.
As amended, the measure would protect workers who use lawful products off of job premises during nonworking hours and when the employee is not on call.
Some observers, including local news talk radio station WROK, have pointed out that the bill as currently written would apparently only protect workers who test positive for relatively low amounts of cannabis.
In Illinois, drivers are considered impaired if they test positive for THC at a concentration of greater than 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood—or 10 ng/mL of other bodily fluids, such as saliva or urine—within two hours of driving.
I think we are going to continue to work on the safety-sensitive position in the Senate,” said IMA’s government affairs director, Donovan Griffith.
In Washington, D.C., meanwhile, a District Council committee this week unanimously approved their own workplace protections for cannabis consumers.
In New York, for example, the state Department of Labor announced last year that employers are no longer allowed to drug test most workers for marijuana.
Drug testing and workplace issues related to cannabis use have become hot topics as more states move to end criminalization.
Lawmakers in the Senate and House have both included language in recent appropriations reports urging a review of employment policies for federal agencies with respect to personal use of cannabis.
At a press conference Friday, Senate President Bill Ferguson took questions from reporters on the competing plans.
“It wouldn’t be my first choice,” Ferguson said of putting the proposed constitutional amendment to voters.
Both pending Senate bills include far more detail than the House bills, HB 1 and HB 837, about how the state would regulate a new commercial cannabis industry.
Under both the House’s and Senate’s proposed constitutional amendments, legalization would not take effect until July 2023.
It would legalize cannabis sooner, in July of this year, and establish more permissive limits on possession and home cultivation.
“Sen.
Feldman, for his part said he didn’t see the two bills “as being in conflict” and thanked Carter for her cooperation.
Feldman last legislative session was a lead author on a different legalization bill that was co-sponsored by Senate President Ferguson.
Two years later, a decriminalization law took effect that replaced criminal penalties for possession of less than 10 grams with a civil fine of $100 to $500.
Also that year, the governor vetoed a bill that would have shielded people with low-level cannabis convictions from having their records publicized on a state database.
As for Maryland lawmakers, a House committee in 2019 held hearings on two bills that would have legalized marijuana.
Wednesday’s meeting, intended for North Jersey residents, was the first of three virtual regional hearings scheduled to give the public a say in how marijuana proceeds—from what’s known as the Social Equity Excise Fee—could be used to better their communities.
Christian Velasquez, who lives in Dover, said marijuana proceeds should support real estate assistance for applicants who have trouble securing a business location because of municipal restrictions.
The state missed that deadline though, and commission officials have been careful not to commit to an opening date, even as Gov.
But it’s comparatively bold, providing patients with certain serious conditions like treatment-resistant depression, PTSD and terminal illnesses with access to substances including psilocybin, DMT, mescaline and ibogaine in a clinical setting.
A bill to decriminalize a wide array of psychedelics in Virginia was taken up by a House of Delegates panel in January, only to be pushed off until 2023.