Evanston Planning and Development Committee nixes cannabis lounge ordinance

Evanston’s Planning and Development Committee shot down changes to city code that would have allowed for cannabis consumption lounges, citing the city’s Clean Air Act and the impacts of secondhand smoke.

Councilmember Devon Reid, who introduced the changes, argued that the city should make the exception despite concerns by some of the potential adverse health impacts on the community.

He cited a Centers for Disease Control study from 2019, a year before the drug became legal in Illinois, that said one in five Americans used cannabis at one point during the year and the demographics of cannabis users are widespread.

“We saw when we moved toward recreational legalization of cannabis, here in our state and other states, that there was a disproportionate impact of that restriction on minority communities, particularly Black and brown folks,” he said. “In many leases, it is against the rules, in violation of the lease, violation of the contract, to consume cannabis within your apartment unit.”

Earlier this year, the City Council amended code that prohibited possession of cannabis in public spaces, bringing city code more aligned with state law. Despite the changes, consumption is still prohibited in public spaces. This, Reid says, forces residents into a corner and limits their ability to use a drug legal in the state that is sold in legal dispensaries with tax funds from the sale going to the city’s reparations fund.

“We know that people throughout the nation and in our community are having their housing jeopardized because of consumption of cannabis,” he said. “There are too many people who have nowhere where they can legally consume cannabis.”

Current ordinances would allow for an indoor smoking lounge, according to Reid, if certain circumstances were met. He also said that the societal and individual impacts of alcohol are far greater than cannabis and it is hypocritical for the council to approve liquor licenses but not consider cannabis lounges.

“According to the CDC, there are 95,000 people who die of the over-consumption of alcohol every year — 95,000 Americans,” Reid said. “There is a huge imbalance here in the way we are viewing these substances.”

Chair of the Evanston Health Advisory Council Don Ziegler spoke in opposition to the ordinance during the April 24 meeting, saying that the request could have an adverse impact on neighboring properties and could encourage impaired driving.

Senior Manager of Policy and Advocacy for the Respiratory Health Association Kelly Nichols said that proposed ventilation for cannabis lounges won’t be enough to protect workers and that there is no safe amount of secondhand smoke.

“Evanstonians deserve a consistent policy that promotes health,” Nichols said.

Councilmember Bobby Burns was the only yes vote alongside Reid, with other council members saying that alcohol doesn’t have the same impact that secondhand smoke from cannabis does.

“I can sit at a cafe outdoors and someone has a beer next to me, that’s not impacting me. Someone’s chewing a gummy, that doesn’t impact me,” Councilmember Clare Kelly said. “If they’re smoking right next to me, that does.”

Kelly also said she would be concerned for workers at the proposed cannabis lounges as the jobs would likely be low-income and could subject them to dangers from secondhand cannabis smoke.

Reid argued that while secondhand smoke isn’t a factor with alcohol, traffic-related deaths due to drunken driving could be seen as the equivalent.

In order to open a cannabis lounge, owners would need to get a state license to operate a dispensary, a process Reid calls stringent. Even with the license, Reid’s proposed ordinance would have created a special use process for applicants that would require them to go before the City Council to request approval for a cannabis lounge.

Reid also said that cannabis lounges could bring substantial revenue and job opportunities into the city, especially with Oakton College’s cannabis program in Skokie.

“We’re training young folks in our community to work in this industry and we’re not providing job opportunities for them,” he said. “That’s what our tax dollars are going toward.”

Councilmember Melissa Wynne, who was on the council when the Clean Air Act was passed, said that because there are other ways to consume cannabis besides smoking, she is a hard no on cannabis lounges and would encourage closing any existing loopholes that could allow them.

If those loopholes do exist, Councilmember Eleanor Revelle said she is concerned that by allowing cannabis lounges, it could open the door for tobacco smoking lounges.

Councilmember Jonathan Nieuwsma spoke of his experience visiting northern Michigan where he saw a cannabis business with a giant neon “House of Dank” sign and said that isn’t what Evanston is about.

“I am concerned about the image and perception of Evanston,” he said. “We want Evanston to be lively and warm and welcoming for families, a vibrant community … we don’t need a House of Dank. So if that elevates me to a Francis Willard level of prudishness, so be it.”

If cannabis lounges became more widely accepted in the future, Nieuwsma said he would possibly be willing to revisit the discussion.

Reid said that kind of perception is exactly what he’s hoping to combat and that laws in Illinois are very different.

Even with the ordinance stalling in committee, Reid said he still has hope for it.

“I never let anything die,” he said.