CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Legislation advancing in Springfield would further loosen restrictions on marijuana.
The proposal from State Representative Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) would fully legalize the delivery and possession of any amount of marijuana, and would erase previous convictions dating back to 1970.
The current limit is 30 grams.
The bill is now being sent to the House floor, after being narrowly approved by the House Criminal Justice Committee, the Sun-Times reported.
Flowers, who voter against legalization of recreational marijuana, said she introduced the bill to further address the toll of the drug war and its disproportionate impact on people of color.
Executive Director of the Illinois Sheriffs Association Jim Kaitschuk spoke strongly against the proposed bill. He told the Sun-Times the bill “essentially legalizes any amount of cannabis” and noted that “huge potential drug traffickers” would have their pot-related records cleared.
“You could have a semi truckload full of cannabis and now that’s legal,” he said.
Additionally, Kaitschuk said the proposal would allow certain cannabis offenders to carry guns and could complicate the state’s current expungement process.
Since the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act took effect, the administration has expunged nearly a half-million non-felony cannabis-related arrest records at the state level, four years ahead of the deadline outlined in statute. Additionally, more than 20,000 pardons have been granted for cannabis convictions and the state has issued nearly $32 million in grants to invest in communities through our innovative Restore, Reinvest, Renew program.