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CITY HALL — Two more alderpeople pushed through a ban of hemp shops in their Far South Side wards on Wednesday — with no objection from colleagues — as state lawmakers remain divided on what to do about the products.
The ban from Alds. Anthony Beale (9th) and Peter Chico (10th) slaps a fine of up to $5,000 on any business caught selling hemp products in the “Lake Calumet Residential Area,” which covers their wards mainly in the city’s Roseland, Pullman, East Side and South Chicago neighborhoods.
The new prohibition arrives as local officials and some state-licensed cannabis purveyors urge tougher regulations on the hundreds of businesses that rely on a loophole in federal law to sell legal hemp’s small traces of THC as highly concentrated edibles, drinks, vapes and pre-rolled joints.
Hemp business owners have said they turned to selling hemp after the state’s legal cannabis rollout locked out many small minority operators by limiting licenses, which carry prohibitively pricey requirements.
A bill championed by Gov. JB Pritzker that would have effectively banned hemp businesses failed to pass after some Democrats, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, criticized the proposal for not giving them a second chance at selling a regulated buzz outside of dispensaries.
A label on Delta 9 THC-P gummies at Mary Jane’s Smoke Shop, 5407 S. Harlem Ave., in Garfield Ridge on Jan. 9, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Beale said he now had to “take the bull by the horn,” calling the smoke shops “a problem” with “kids going in there” to buy hemp products packaged to look like popular candies.
The products are not age restricted, although hemp shop owners have told Block Club they enforce their own 21-and-up policy and would welcome one being made law.
“Hemp is causing great harm to our young people in our communities, and the city is acting entirely too slow,” Beale said. “I feel like we can no longer just wait … this is going to continue to grow ward-by-ward.”
Charles Wu, executive director of the Illinois Hemp Business Association, said hemp merchants are also in favor of regulation, but it isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” solution.
“This is not a case of hemp operators not being willing to submit or advocate for responsible age-gating, packaging, dosing, testing and labeling regulations,” Wu said.
Wu instead called it a “push from better-resourced businesses … using their capital to eliminate competition.”
Beale and Chico’s ban is similar to one passed unanimously in January by Alds. Marty Quinn (13th) and Silvana Tabares (23rd), which went further by designating that “Retail Tobacco stores” operating in the Midway area won’t get their tobacco licenses renewed when they expire — which could effectively force the smoke shops to move or close by this summer.
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) have also introduced hemp bans in their Near North Side and Downtown wards, although those have been delayed by being sent to the City Council’s rules committee. Ald. Felix Cardona (31st) introduced his own ban Wednesday.
Alders leading the charge against hemp told Block Club they’re stopping short of introducing an outright ban citywide.
“We’re sort of tinkering around the edges,” Hopkins said.
But other alderpeople want to see at least some shops with hemp products stay open.
Ald. William Hall (6th), a top ally of Johnson, held a subject matter hearing about hemp in January, bringing out leaders of the city’s business and health departments who said they could safely test the products while also raising city revenue. But besides a 21-plus age restriction, Hall has yet to introduce a plan to regulate the hemp industry locally.
Hall previously said his plan would cap hemp licenses — which would need approval by the area’s alderperson — and charge business owners $50,000-$100,000 for them, with the cost of annual third-party lab testing included.
Mayoral spokesperson Cassio Mendoza said in a statement Johnson is still pushing “safety regulations for the hemp industry.”
“Significant progress has been made in developing a framework that protects the vulnerable from potentially harmful products and supports our local economy,” Mendoza said. “The mayor believes that hemp regulation should be comprehensive and cover the entire city, rather than being done on a ward-by-ward, ad-hoc basis.”
Earlier this week, the owner of a new South Loop licensed cannabis dispensary called on the state to increase regulations on hemp businesses that don’t face the same scrutiny as those like hers.
Prairie Dispensary owner Meesha Pike speaks to media at a press conference in the South Loop Tuesday. Pike is calling for a crackdown on the sale of hemp and hemp-derived products. Credit: Jamie Nesbitt Golden / Block Club Chicago
Meesha Pike kicked off the opening week of her Prairie Dispensary, 622 W. Roosevelt Road, at a press conference led by state Rep. LaShawn K. Ford, where she and other community members pressed state lawmakers for tougher regulations on stores that sell other intoxicating hemp products.
Pike said the process of getting the dispensary open was “difficult,” adding that smoke shops like CBD Kratom — which is directly across the street from Prairie — sabotage businesses like hers.
“They’re able to sell illegal cannabis or intoxicating hemp at a price that undercuts the price that I’m able to sell it at because they don’t have the fees that I have, they don’t have the regulations that I have, they don’t have the taxes that I have,” Pike said. “So I’m competing against someone who’s selling a product that has the same effect as my product.”
CBD Kratom’s owners could not be reached for comment.
Wu, the Illinois Hemp Business Association director, said the cannabis industry is shifting blame toward the much smaller hemp sector rather than address its own industry challenges such as high overhead, limited product diversity and regulatory inflexibility.
“We support thoughtful regulation that prioritizes consumer safety, product transparency, and market integrity while preserving accessibility for small businesses,” Wu said. “We believe both industries can coexist— and even thrive — through collaboration rather than competition.”
Last month, 28 alders signed a letter urging the state to regulate hemp businesses, saying city officials “lack the capacity to regulate these products effectively on their own.”
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) has introduced a separate ordinance that would put a city tax on hemp beverages with high dosages of THC, rather than banning them.
”It’s a path of least resistance,” Vasquez said. “The problem we got here is that the cannabis law is so restrictive, the people who want to get into the industry can’t.”
But Vasquez said he understands the ward-specific bans “in the absence of comprehensive legislation.”
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“}]] It’s the second city ordinance to pass that aims to crack down on businesses selling hemp products. Alders in the Midway area moved to make licenses for “Retail Tobacco stores” expire without renewal. Read More
