Cook County voters support recreational use of cannabis

The McHenry County state’s attorney’s office has expunged more than a thousand low-level pot convictions for offenses now considered legal in Illinois. — Two Chicago mayoral candidates have proposed plans that rely heavily on legal pot and a Chicago casino to pay our pension debt. | AP file photo

Voters in the Illinois county that includes Chicago have backed the recreational use of marijuana in a nonbinding referendum.

Tuesday’s question for Cook County voters asked if Illinois should legalize “the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, testing, and sale of marijuana and marijuana products for recreational use by adults 21 and older.”

The proposal received approval from 68.2 percent of votes cast.

Although the referendum is advisory only, the vote could help state lawmakers make their case for the legalization of marijuana use.

Supporters of legalizing and taxing marijuana for adults contend it could boost revenue for state and local governments, as it has elsewhere. Opponents of legalized marijuana use have raised questions about the social cost and subversion of federal laws.

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