Plainfield Cannabis Ordinance Changes: How They Affect Residents

PLAINFIELD, IL — On Monday night, Dec. 16, Plainfield Police Chief Konopek asked the village board to make adjustments to the town's cannabis ordinances. Broadly, these changes were designed to bring municipal code in line with the upcoming state-wide legalization of recreational cannabis use. More narrowly, they altered the village's legal language surrounding marijuana in three specific ways. Patch spoke with Chief Konopek, and with Village Attorney Joan Meyers, about what those changes were and how they will affect Plainfield residents in 2020.

Patch: Exactly what is being changed in the wording of the [cannabis] statutes?

Konopek: Three things are being changed to bring [the statutes] in line with the cannabis laws, either for medical cannabis or the new [recreational] cannabis laws going into effect Jan 1. The first change is changing the wording in the village ordinance to be more in line with the state wording as far as the definition of 'cannabis.'

The second change is about possession... After Jan. 1, possession of cannabis is not necessarily illegal, but it will still remain illegal for people under 21 years of age or people using it outside the scope of the regulations, such as transporting it illegally or using it out in public... So the wording is changing so that not all possession is illegal anymore, but the possession that would fall outside those [state] regulations... that would remain illegal.

The third part is about drug paraphernalia. Again, not all drug paraphernalia will be illegal, it would depend on the scope and how it's being utilized. So someone could be in their house, smoking cannabis... and that would remain legal. But again, walking down the street, if they're under 21 years of age; in those examples, if they possess the cannabis along with the paraphernalia, then that would remain illegal.

Patch: But seeing as a lot of so-called drug paraphernalia is already legal for tobacco use, is anything functionally changing or is it just a re-wording?

Konopek: Well you have to tie the two together even right now. Even though someone might have a piece of equipment that's used for drug use, we have to tie it in directly that they're using, or in possession of, drugs with that item. So that aspect is not changing at all. The aspect that's changing is, again... if we had contact with someone today, in their yard, and they had cannabis on their person and a piece of drug paraphernalia with cannabis inside it, we could charge them with [possession of] the drug paraphernalia. After Jan. 1, when cannabis will be legal, if they're over 21 the cannabis would be legal and the drug paraphernalia would be legal.

Patch: You mentioned that there was some changing of the definition of 'cannabis.' How is that changing?

Meyers: It has changed to comply with the new state cannabis law that's going into effect Jan. 1. In that new law they redefine cannabis to include different types of products, so we've included that in our [municipal] definition now.

Patch: Is there any form of cannabis, like oils or extracts or anything else, that will still be illegal?

Meyers: Most forms will be legal. Not all, but most.

Patch: Thank you both very much for your time.

—

For more information, click here to read a summary of HB 1438, the state-wide Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act which will come into effect Jan. 1, 2020. According to HB 1438, legal forms of cannabis include:

"marijuana, hashish, and other substances that are identified as including any parts of the plant Cannabis sativa and including derivatives or subspecies, such as indica, of all strains of cannabis, whether growing or not; the seeds thereof, the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and any compound, manufacture, salt, derivative,mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds, or resin,including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and all other naturally produced cannabinol derivatives, whether produced directly or indirectly by extraction."

However,

"'Cannabis' does not include the mature stalks of the plant, fiber produced from the stalks,oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the mature stalks (except the resin extracted from it), fiber, oil or cake, or the sterilized seed of the plant that is incapable of germination. "Cannabis" does not include industrial hemp as defined and authorized under the Industrial Hemp Act. 'Cannabis' also means concentrate and cannabis-infused products."

Possession of these legal forms of cannabis is also limited by volume; per HB 1438:

"Possession limit for Illinois residents:

• 30 grams of cannabis flower;
• 5 grams of cannabis concentrate; and
• No more than 500 milligrams of THC contained in a cannabis-infused product;
• Registered patients in the medical cannabis pilot program may possess more
• than 30 grams of cannabis if it is grown and secured in their residence under certain conditions.

Possession limit for non-Illinois residents:

• 15 grams of cannabis flower;
• 2.5 grams of cannabis; and
• No more than 250 milligrams of THC contained in a cannabis-infused product."

The Plainfield municipal codes dealing with cannabis definitions and possession can be found here. At time of writing, these statutes have not been updated online to reflect the changes coming on Jan. 1.