Council rejects Cannabis lounges
Hopes that Evanston would permit cannabis lounges went up in smoke Monday night in the face of a strong commitment by several alders to the city’s clean air ordinance.
Ald. Devon Reid (8th) pitched the smoking establishments as a matter of equity, saying lower income residents, who disproportionately are minorities, might have no other legal place to smoke weed if their rental apartments bar smoking, since the city also bans open-air smoking of cannabis.
But Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd), the only member on the council when it imposed the indoor smoking ban in 2006, said, “I’m a hard no” to permitting the lounges.
Wynne noted that the existence of edible cannabis products means there are ways to consume the drug without smoking it.
Ald. Eleanor Revelle (7th) said she agreed with Wynne, adding that if the city permitted businesses where cannabis could be smoked it would then have no logical reason to continue its ban on hookah lounges for tobacco smoking.
Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) said that in addition to the air quality and public health implications, he’s concerned about the image of Evanston if establishments that encourage smoking of cannabis are allowed here.
The lounge proposal died on a 4-2 vote in the Planning and Development Committee and did not advance to the full City Council.
Reid was joined by Ald. Bobby Burns (5th) in voting for the proposal.
