Being a Chicagoan myself, I am pleased to see that Schaumburg, one of our suburbs, was able to make the right decision. For those who are not aware of Illinois politics, we have a bit of a corruption problem – a problem that is not limited to one party. Illinois did pass a bill in 2016 that allows the use of medical marijuana, however we have a long way to go. At the moment, the state allows its doctors to prescribe marijuana to only a handful of medical issues. I for one have insomnia, but unlike my friends who live in several other states, I am not allowed to use marijuana as a sleeping aid. Instead, my choices are a variety of synthetic drugs, many of which have proven to be highly addicting.

What is taking so long for the blue state of Illinois to get it together? It doesn’t help that we have a Republican governor (who the National review called the worst governor in America) who is “not a believer” in marijuana and is not willing to let the state conduct a “massive human experiment” by legalizing and taxing the recreational use of marijuana. According to the Chicagoist (2017), Rauner stated "I’m hearing some pretty bad stories. Now, I haven’t studied it. I think we should do a thoughtful analysis of what’s happening in these other states. I’m hearing a lot of trouble,” Rauner said. “My friends in Colorado have told me some pretty terrible things about addiction problems and behavior problems, etc. over there in Denver.”

I, however, am very skeptical of this explanation. Illinois is where crony capitalism runs rampant, and I believe that Rauner and many other Illinois politicians (both sides of the isle) are trying to secure their cronies in the limited slots available for the license to grow, sell, and distribute marijuana. Unlike Michigan, the people of Illinois will likely not have the right to grow their own plants, and simply being CONSIDERED for licensure requires thousands of dollars (I believe it was 10K but do not quote me on that). Interestingly, an Illiniosian man, Andrew James, who was a CEO of a medical marijuana company that applied for a medical marijuana-farming permit in the Kankakee area, sued the state after losing out on the bid, claiming the state failed to follow its own licensing guidelines. Unfortunately, Mr. James died unexpectedly soon before the trial. He was 51 years old. Last I heard the autopsy reports stated the cause of his death was “inconclusive”.
http://chicagoist.com/2017/03/24/gov_rauner_is_not_jazzed_about_lega.php
https://patch.com/illinois/skokie/kenilworth-man-ceo-medical-marijuana-company-suing-state-dies-unexpectedly-0