Letter: Kane County Board should allow marijuana shops in unincorporated areas

The Kane County Board needs to wake up and reverse its decision to ban marijuana businesses from operating in unincorporated areas.

Crime magnet. Words that are meant to instill fear and to demonize. Crime magnet. No one wants that in their neighborhood.

These words have been used by those opposed to marijuana businesses in unincorporated areas. The problem is, there is no data to support that imagined threat. There wasn’t any viable data to support it when the board first voted on the ban in 2019 and there is less data to support it now.

This isn’t 1921. A “reefer madness” mentality has no place in today’s world.

Kane County faces a $14 million deficit from years of economic challenges, and more recently the pandemic. The county has a golden opportunity to generate as ubstantial amount of revenue to help offset those costs and relieve some of the burden from taxpayers.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture is administering  community college cannabis vocation programs for the purpose of training people to work in the growing marijuana industry.

Jobs. New jobs for trained, qualified people. An investment in the future.

Illinois cannabis sales topped $1 billion in its first year of legalization. Kane County has a $14 million deficit. Services continue to be cut. Taxes continue to rise.

Regulate it. Tax it. Make it safe and make it a quality product grown and produced right here in Kane County…something we can all be proud of. This is a new and growing industry that will only continue to expand and allow Kane County to be at the forefront.

We need new revenue sources. We have a $14 million deficit. We have got to get the tax burden off the backs of the people of this county.

What about this don’t you understand? I urge the board to vote in favor of allowing marijuana businesses to operate in unincorporated areas of Kane County.

Sandy Kaczmarski

Elburn