Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶
When it comes to the cost of cannabis in Chicago, the totals are known to be sky high, placing Illinois’ pot prices among some of the highest in the nation, according to a 2023 study.
Will that ever change?
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday announced plans to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug — a move that will no doubt impact Illinois, the third-largest cannabis market in the nation.
In today’s newsletter, we’ll take a look at the economic side of this move and what local cannabis industry leaders have to say.
Plus, we have reporting on a new program that intends to provide meals to students over the summer, a book about Chicago’s past as the center of country music and more community news you need to know below. 👇
⏱️: A 7-minute read
— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)
TOP STORY
Could Illinois weed prices drop if the feds reclassify marijuana?
Reporting by Emmanuel Camarillo
Feds could reclassify weed: A proposal by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug, which includes heroin and LSD, to Schedule 3, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids, could have a positive impact on buyers of legal weed in Illinois, local industry leaders say.
What’s reclassification: The DEA’s proposal would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use. Instead it would recognize marijuana’s medical uses and reclassify it in the federal agency’s drug scheduling system to Schedule 3, which would have significant implications for how it is handled on the federal level.
Fewer tax restrictions: Illinois marijuana businesses cannot deduct common business expenses — such as advertising and wages — from income because it’s associated with “trafficking” Schedule 1 or 2 substances. A move to Schedule 3 would remove this restriction on those companies.
‘A crazy burden’: “For this entire existence of this industry, we’ve all had to pay taxes at the gross profit level, not actual profit. It’s a crazy burden,” said Charlie Bachtell, CEO of Chicago-based weed giant Cresco Labs. At Cresco, that amounts to $70 million to $80 million in extra costs per year, he said.
Will weed become cheaper?Dominique White, director of people and operations at the Ivy Hall cannabis dispensary, says customers will benefit from the reduction of extra costs associated with taxes. “It’ll make a huge difference in consumers’ pockets and their ability to go into a store and get what they want,” White said.
Next steps: The proposal to reschedule weed follows a recommendation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It would still have to be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
- Yelp’s top small businesses: Four Chicago small businesses made it onto Yelp’s annual list of the top 100 local businesses in the U.S. — Chicago Pet Sitters, Windy City Wedding Dance, Rogers Park Provisions, and Play.
- Interpreting data: In making the case to tie Mayor Brandon Johnson’s hands on canceling the ShotSpotter contract, City Council members have repeatedly cited faster response times and the number of gunshot detection alerts not accompanied by a 911 call.
- CPS students to protest: Students at several Chicago high schools are protesting the war in Gaza Wednesday by first demonstrating in their schools, then marching to encampments at the University of Chicago and DePaul University.
- Grocery benefits for families: Illinois families with school-age children may be eligible for a new program that aims to fill the absence of free school meals over summer break. Participating families will receive a one-time grocery debit card loaded with $120 per child.
- Walmart opens consolidation center: The retail giant this week unveiled a massive high-tech consolidation center in the northeastern Illinois village of Minooka — its third one in the country. Walmart says the center will speed product deliveries and employ 700 people.
- New Hyde Park bookstore: Call & Response Books, 1390 E. Hyde Park Blvd., will open the doors to its store Saturday, where owner Courtney Bledsoe stocks books by authors of color and celebrates the stories they tell.
- 3.5 stars for ‘The Idea of You’: Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine make a dazzling duo in this love story with just the right amount of cringe, writes Richard Roeper.
SUN-TIMES BOOK CLUB 📖
Book traces Chicago’s role as the early heart of country music
Reporting by Neil Steinberg
For all the talk of Chicago as the home of blues, gospel, jazz and house music, we rarely get around to talking about the city’s rich country music heritage. Rich and deep — the WLS National Barn Dance, which predated Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry by two years, was first broadcast 100 years ago (Friday, April 19, 1924).
Mark Guarino’s book “Country & Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival,” released last year, is a richly researched text that takes you from the Barn Dance to Ernest Tubb coining the term “Country and Western” in 1947 at the prodding of “a record man from Chicago,” trying to escape the confines of “hillbilly music.”
Chicago was the center of country for decades, drawing all sorts of stars. Gene Autry lived in Aurora. Bill Monroe recorded “Blue Moon of Kentucky” at the Wrigley Building. In the 1920s, Chicago Mayor William Hale “Big Bill” Thompson was known as “the cowboy mayor” for his Stetson hat and Nebraska ranch, and once rode a horse into the City Council chambers.
The city was also a folk music hub, Guarino writes, where Joan Baez and Bob Dylan performed in the very early stages of their careers. Guarino’s book connects country music with the folk revival. “Hillbilly for cultured” is how the Tribune summed up folk in 1960.
“In Chicago ... there emerged the figure of the working auteur who could freely experiment, perform, and collaborate because they existed far from the star-making structures of Hollywood Broadway, and Nashville’s Music Row,” writes Guarino in the book’s introduction. “Chicago’s artists were not roped off from their audiences; instead, they lived and worked alongside them.”
BRIGHT ONE ✨
Chicago tattoo artist Allie Marie gives pets a permanent spot on their owners’ bodies
Reporting by Katie Anthony
Pets leave a permanent mark on their owners’ hearts — and Allie Marie is helping them leave a permanent mark on their owners’ bodies, too.
The Chicago tattoo artist, who works out of Goodkind Tattoo in Lake View has found her niche in creating detailed pet portraits to memorialize man’s best friends.
She works to ensure that the furry friend portraits aren’t just a copy-paste image of a pet. They incorporate her style and aim to create a story of each animal.
“People are coming to me, whether it be a memorial tattoo or a tattoo of their living pet, I’m putting something on someone that is an image, a great piece of artwork, but there’s also a lot more meaning behind it than if someone got like a dagger with a rose,” Allie Marie says.
She talks with clients about their pet’s quirks, favorite toys and personalities. She translates those details into symbols within each tattoo portrait.
“I have a client who I’m going to be doing a clown cat on. it’s because out of the two cats she has,” Allie Marie says, “the cat is like a jokester, is always getting into things and is kind of like a funny cat.
“I did one where it was a cow print on a [collar] because, when the dog would bark, it sounded like it was mooing.”
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Have you ever gotten a tattoo in Chicago? Tell us what it is and why you got it.
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Editor: Satchel Price
Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore
Copy editor: Angie Myers
