Illinois Gubernatorial Candidate Calls for Auction of Medical Cannabis Licences

Anti-cannabis Republican Illinois gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner has a “new” idea for raising money for the state:  Auctioning off the state’s 60 medical and 21 cultivation licenses by state auction.

Rauner suggested the idea in mid- September— the first month the state began registering medical patients and during the window of time hopeful cannapreneurs were submitting applications to begin legal operations in state.  Rauner has also criticized the medical cannabis application process as too secretive and ruled by cronyism rather than competition.

The Illinois medical cannabis program is in fact “only” a pilot program, designed to be renewed in 2017.  While a new governor with an anti-cannabis bend could certainly veto such new legislation, it is highly unlikely in two years time given ongoing reform in other states as well as Illinois that such a moratorium would be in place for long.

Given the fact that three states, D.C. and Guam will be voting for expanded reform this fall and several more states (including California, Texas, Massachusetts, and Arizona) are gearing up for 2016, it is unlikely that Illinois would regress in such policies.It is also very likely given the national federal conversation on the topic only ramped up to an additional pitch by the comments of resigning Attorney General Eric Holder, that federal reform may overtake recalcitrant state politicians, particularly in states where some kind of reform has already progressed to the point that it has in Illinois.

However it is for precisely this reason that voter driven reforms have continued to be organized around the country.  On the issue of cannabis reform, voters are far more progressive than politicians— either those in office now or those hoping to be elected to the same. 

As for the fate of medical and cultivation licenses in Illinois, only time can tell how and when the dispersion will take place.