DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – A group of Decatur activists began distributing petitions Monday in an effort to get a referendum added to next year’s primary ballot regarding recreational cannabis sales.
"Assuming that we can gather the right number of qualifying signatures, we will be on the March ballot,” said Lisa Kendall of the Decatur Dispensary Project.
Find out more about the Decatur Dispensary Project at this link.
The group, which organized online via Facebook, said its goal is to get the referendum on the ballot after the Decatur City Council voted against adding a recreational marijuana dispensary on Sept. 30.
"The question is worded very simply: 'Should the city of Decatur opt in to the sale of recreational cannabis, and edibles and other products that are cannabis-related?'” Kendall said. “"The City Council decision, we feel, was not fact-based, it was fear-based."
Group members began circulating their petition at a meeting at the Venue at Golden Fox Brewery Monday night. To get the referendum on the ballot, the law requires them to collect nearly 2,000 signatures, but they’re aiming much higher.
"I believe it's 1,924 signatures are needed,” Kendall said. "We want to get about 5,000, just so that we can make sure that we're completely covered."
At Monday’s meeting, attendees watched educational videos about cannabis, and also heard from Sam Cahnman, the lawyer who drafted the petition.
"It's called an advisory referendum for the reason that its purpose is to advise the elected officials who actually do represent the citizens of Decatur what the position of the citizens of Decatur are on this particular issue,” Cahnman told WAND.
And if the group doesn’t get the signatures by their Thanksgiving deadline?
"The way that the referendum is written, we can run it on the general election ballot if we miss that deadline,” Kendall said. “So we have that backup plan in place."
If the referendum makes it on the ballot and receives strong public support, the Decatur City Council would not be required to take any action. The group is just hoping to get the council to reconsider their stance.
