Ald. Brian Hopkins: If Springfield won't act on dangerous hemp products, Chicago must

Chicago Tribune

14-07-2025

Last month, the Tribune Editorial Board rightly sounded the alarm on the flood of unregulated, intoxicating hemp products being sold in gas stations, smoke shops and convenience stores across Illinois. These products — many of which are chemically altered, highly potent and dangerously mislabeled — are being marketed and sold directly to children using cartoon packaging, candy flavors and zero safety guardrails. The packaging may mimic well-known snack brands and the products are readily accessible on store counters with no checks of identification and no guidance on safe use.
This is not just a matter of regulatory oversight — it's a public health crisis in the making. And once again, the Illinois General Assembly has failed to do anything about it.
Despite bipartisan proposals to bring order to this Wild West marketplace, Springfield ended its legislative session without passing even the most basic consumer protections, testing requirements or age restrictions. There was no movement on setting limits for THC potency, no requirement to test for contamination and no mandate to keep these products out of the hands of minors.
This wasn't just a missed opportunity — it was a blatant dereliction of duty. And it's left cities such as Chicago to deal with the fallout.
But there should be no confusion. This failure lies squarely with the legislature — not the governor. Gov. JB Pritzker has been vocal about the public health and consumer protection dangers these products pose and has advocated for strong, sensible regulation. Unfortunately, his leadership was not matched by action in the General Assembly. Even more troubling, the lack of support from some municipal leaders has undermined those efforts and sent mixed messages to lawmakers.
These synthetic and intoxicating hemp-derived products have no place in our neighborhoods. We cannot allow an opaque, unregulated industry to profit off the endangerment of our children — especially under the false pretense that these products are 'natural' or 'safe.' In reality, many of these products are manufactured with chemicals that have not been studied for human consumption. Others are sold with misleading dosage information or fail to disclose all ingredients. Parents often don't realize what their kids are buying until it's too late — and sometimes not even then.
Other states have taken decisive action. As of this writing, around 40 states have passed laws or implemented rules targeting intoxicating hemp products. Several of those states have restricted or banned synthetic THC altogether. Even Kentucky, a state hardly known for overregulation, regulated delta-8 THC entirely due to its impact on youth. At the federal level, the Food and Drug Administration has issued repeated warnings about the dangers of chemically modified cannabinoids, and Congress is actively debating updates to the 2018 Farm Bill to close the loopholes that allowed this problem to spiral out of control in the first place.
So, while Springfield drops the ball yet again, Chicago must act. We cannot afford to wait any longer.
As chair of the City Council's Public Safety Committee, I am calling on my colleagues and Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration to move forward with urgency. We must take steps to protect our residents now.
This is not a call to ban — it's a call for commonsense regulation. Right now, any store can sell intoxicating hemp products with no questions asked, no oversight and no accountability. That has to change. If a business wants to sell products that contain THC within city limits, it should be required to obtain a state license, lab-test all products for potency and purity, follow strict childproof packaging standards, limit sales to adults over 21 and offer only products that are truly naturally derived from hemp — not synthesized with unknown or dangerous chemical compounds.
When it comes to the health and safety of our residents, Chicago has never waited on Springfield. We led on tobacco restrictions. We took bold action on flavored vaping. We've implemented innovative public health measures time and again when state action fell short. Now we must do the same with intoxicating hemp products.
Because protecting our children and our communities isn't optional — it's our responsibility.