Last Updated July 15, 2008

Illinois has had medical marijuana legislation on the books since 1978, but unclear wording and political agendas have kept the program from being implemented. Lawmakers are working on a new bill, but pulled it from consideration during the 2004 legislative session due to lack of support. Several of the state's top newspapers have endorsed medical marijuana.

Ninety percent of drug offenders admitted to prison in Illinois are African-American. This number illuminates the problem of Illinois’ drug enforcement strategy as the state leads the nation in racially disproportionate incarceration of African-American drug offenders. In 2000, 258 of 259 juveniles automatically transferred to adult court for drug crimes were children of color. The Illinois government has done little to stop the race-based incarceration of thousands of minority drug offenders.

The 2000 court case, Chavez v. Illinois State Police, demonstrated that Hispanics comprise 30% of motorists stopped by the “Valkyrie” drug interdiction force for discretionary offenses such as changing lanes without signaling or driving one to four miles above the speed limit. Hispanics comprise 8% of the Illinois population. The same lawsuit showed that African-Americans were targeted 63% percent of the time for similar offenses by the “Valkyrie” unit. Just this year, legislation mandating racial sensitivity training for officers and data collection during traffic stops has made it to the Governor’s office.

Another serious problem for Illinois is the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout all communities. Since 1981, Illinois has ranked seventh in the nation in HIV infection, with 28,000 cases reported.  Thanks to a new law, the state allows pharmacies to sell syringes without a prescription.

Illinois' Drug Policy Reform Organizations:  

• Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy