Editorial Roundup: Illinois

Champaign News-Gazette. July 21, 2023.

Editorial: Once an outcast, weed is making its presence felt

Sales of marijuana have been strong in Illinois since Gov. J.B. Pritzker and legislators legalized it for recreational use as of Jan. 1, 2020.

How strong?

The folks who measure these kinds of things at the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report that Illinois ranks No. 16 in the nation in terms of consumption.

Of course, those numbers are skewed somewhat because buying marijuana for recreational use is not legal in all 50 states. Its use is either fully or partially legal in each.

If that doesn’t reflect a revolutionary change in public attitudes, it’s hard to imagine what does.

But the move toward legalization is not fully due to the misconception that marijuana has no ill effects — either for individuals or society. It’s money driven.

Legislators, including those in Illinois, have targeted legalization because it generates many, many millions of dollars in revenue. Rather than irritate voters with tax hikes, legislators take the easy way out with sin taxes. For decades, it was alcohol and tobacco. Now they’ve added marijuana and gambling.

That’s understandable. But there’s an ugly aspect to legalization.

Federal officials report that 20% of Illinoisans age 12 and over “have used marijuana in (the) past year.” That percentage covers 2.2 million Illinoisans.

The pure numbers are even higher in other large states — 6.8 million in California, 3.5 million in New York and 3 million in Texas.

That ought not be a source of pride. But like ‘em or not, they are the facts.

Pritzker and other legalization proponents, however, are proud of the revenue numbers. They routinely brag about the cash rolling into state coffers.

In 2022 alone, Illinois dispensaries generated roughly $1.55 billion in recreational-marijuana sales that brought in roughly $465 million in state revenue.

Although it’s an impressive sum, legalization is a mixed blessing that has created an irony. While some branches of government brag about the marijuana revenues, others warn of the physical and mental-health dangers marijuana consumption poses.

“Know the risks of marijuana,” the federal agency warns, including threats to:

Brain health. Those who start young “risk permanent IQ loss.”

Mental health. Weed use has been linked to a variety of ailments, including depression, anxiety and psychosis.

Physical decline. Athletes who use dope encounter problems with “timing, movement and coordination.”

The list goes on. Unborn babies can suffer from mothers’ consumption. Marijuana-impaired drivers pose risks to public safety.

Here’s the killer.

“Research shows that people who use marijuana are more likely to have relationship problems, worse educational outcomes, lower career achievement and reduced life satisfaction,” SAMHSA states.

Despite warnings of that nature, many people remain blissfully unaware of the dangers. Illinois’ elected officials knew, but they were so focused on the revenue gain they didn’t care.

People should remember the downside next time a marijuana sales report is revealed. That new revenue doesn’t come cheap.

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Chicago Sun-Times. July 18, 2023.

Editorial: Eliminating cash bail puts Illinois firmly on road of criminal justice reform

There will be passionate naysayers ready to pounce if a suspect is released and then charged with another crime — but that could happen even under a cash bail system

It will be an enormous undertaking to completely change a practice that has been integral to our country’s deeply flawed criminal justice system, one that has disproportionately affected poor Black and Brown communities.

But every step counts in chipping away at inequities that have kept the wheels of justice from spinning evenly. The Illinois Supreme Court moved the needle in the right direction Tuesday in its 5-2 ruling that eliminates cash bail — a move this editorial board has supported in the past — making our state the first in the nation poised to do so.

When the law takes effect in September, the hope is it will balance the playing field without hurting public safety.

But bottom-line, it simply isn’t fair for people charged with low-level and nonviolent crimes to bide their time in jail while they await trial solely because they don’t have the cash more privileged suspects can withdraw within minutes.

As a Center for American Progress report from last year summed it up, because of “excessive cash bail, hundreds of thousands of people are incarcerated each year not due to any real public safety concern, but rather due to a lack of money.”

Despite what some right-wing politicians and activists have tried to convey in rabid misinformation campaigns, the Pretrial Fairness Act is not intended to allow thousands of violent men and women loose on the streets like a horde of zombies in an apocalyptic disaster film.

When lambasting Tuesday’s ruling as “a sad reflection of state of ideological capture in our three branches of government,” McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said his office would “ensure that dangerous offenders remain behind bars pre-trial.”

That’s exactly what the law calls for. Judges can — and should — continue to keep dangerous suspects who pose a risk to society behind bars. And now, a violent suspect with money can no longer pony up to avoid jail.

The two Republicans on the state Supreme Court were the only dissenters in the decision that concluded that eliminating cash bail does not violate the Illinois Constitution.

It’s unthinkable that the five justices who ruled against the legal challenges to the Pretrial Fairness Act gave their ruling without much thought or consideration of the potential impact on crime victims and the public.

But as the ruling states, “Our constitution creates a balance between the individual rights of defendants and the individual rights of crime victims. The Act’s pretrial release provisions set forth procedures commensurate with that balance.”

Making it work

Elimination of cash bail doesn’t mean all criminal suspects will be released from custody pending trial.

For the most part, Illinoisans who have been arrested for minor offenses will be released until their cases have been resolved under the new law, which is part of state’s sweeping SAFE-T Act.

But others facing more serious charges, including murder and sexual assault, will have detention hearings in which a judge will determine whether they pose a danger to the public or are considered a flight risk. So many defendants will remain in jail.

And no matter the offense, even those that are low-level, a judge can still impose pretrial conditions, including electronic monitoring and house arrest, on those who are not held in jail.

Other states have tried various models of bail reform. Studies have shown that crime doesn’t increase significantly in places that have nearly eliminated cash bail.

Such statistics are encouraging, though as Harvard University researchers point out, few jurisdictions have rigorously evaluated their reforms. For that reason, it’s crucial that Illinois do so as the Pretrial Fairness Act takes hold.

Not every critic worried about the impact of eliminating cash bail is unreasonable. Concerns about public safety are legitimate, and tracking the new law’s effectiveness is essential. If the Act needs to be amended in any way, legislators need a solid base of information on which to make change.

There will be passionate naysayers ready to pounce if a suspect is released and then is charged with another crime — but that could happen even under a cash bail system. Data and evaluation can help prevent knee-jerk overreactions that deem the new law a dangerous failure before there’s a base of knowledge to draw upon.

Illinois is now firmly down the road of significant criminal justice reform. Now it’s time to make it work.

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Arlington Heights Daily Herald. July 19, 2023.

Editorial: We seem to be recovering from our COVID-19 hangover

Imagine that one day your entire world is disrupted. Your comfortable habits upended, your friends taken away from you. Your job altered or lost.

In some cases, a loved one is taken from you.

You don’t have to imagine it. You’ve lived through it.

COVID-19 has killed 7 million people around the world, more than 1.12 million of them in the U.S.

The Census Bureau tells us 127 million Americans reported having contracted COVID, 28% of whom are suffering long-term effects.

A report last week from researchers at Northwestern Medicine found that among long-COVID sufferers tested, 85% reported decreased quality of life, 51% suffered cognitive impairment, 45% had altered lung function, 83% had abnormal chest scans, and 12% had elevated heart rates.

Long COVID is now the third leading neurological disorder in the United States.

It’s no wonder that so many of us who didn’t succumb to the disease would spend the pandemic self-medicating to combat the sense of isolation, financial disruptions, fear of infection, grief and other stressors.

The Washington Post last week published a story that examined a surge in alcohol consumption during the pandemic — and a big upturn in alcohol-related deaths.

George F. Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, told the Post the traumas of the pandemic added to the stresses that already had been spurring people to drink more in recent years. “The pandemic just made it worse,” he said.

It wasn’t just harmful habits we were developing. The number of deaths caused by alcohol rose more than 45% from 2018 to 2021, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Illinois’ numbers for increased consumption are up slightly, but alcohol deaths were up by about half — still lower than in many states.

But just as those of us have eased up on our Peanut M & M consumption and are no longer catching up regularly with our favorite pizza delivery drivers, we’re beginning to rethink our relationship with booze.

New research suggests that no amount of alcohol is good for you. If you do drink, it’s simply better to do so in moderation.

What is encouraging is the surge in availability of nonalcoholic and lower-alcohol beverages in restaurants and the retail market as well as the growth of “bars” that feature an alcohol-free environment.

We’re still not getting together as much as we did pre-pandemic, but restaurants and bars have always been places where we enjoy each other’s company. Having options for those of us who want to participate in the camaraderie but not the buzz is a welcome move toward inclusion.

If you’re struggling with alcohol, call the National Rehab Hotline at (866) 210-1303 or log onto aa.com.

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The Associated Press