Marijuana News: Illinois Becomes The Latest State To Legalize Recreational Use Of Weed

There has been no slowing down the legalization of marijuana, with Illinois now joining the fray.

Newly elected Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed off on a bill Tuesday that officially made recreational use of marijuana legal. The bill first made it past the Illinois General Assembly, which passed the bill to the governor’s office to legalize and regulate marijuana on May 31. It’s also a big win for Pritzker, who had campaigned on legalizing recreational marijuana during the 2018 campaign.

“As the first state in the nation to fully legalize adult-use cannabis through the legislative process, Illinois exemplifies the best of democracy: a bipartisan and deep commitment to better the lives of all of our people,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Legalizing adult-use cannabis brings an important and overdue change to our state, and it’s the right thing to do. This legislation will clear the cannabis-related records of nonviolent offenders through an efficient combination of automatic expungement, gubernatorial pardon and individual court action.”

Illinois is now the 10th state, along with Washington, D.C., to make recreational marijuana use legal. It will officially go into law on Jan. 1, 2020.

It’s also the latest in a string of victories for Gov. Pritzker, who ran on a more progressive and left-leaning platform. Previously, his biggest win had been passing Illinois’ Reproductive Health Act, which ended some criminal penalties for doctors performing abortions. It also pulled back restrictions on certain late-term abortions.