Illinois promised the nation a model for equitable cannabis legalization.

The market is thriving, but the equity promise remains unfinished.

When the General Assembly passed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, legalization was intended not just to create a profitable new industry but also to begin repairing the damage caused by decades of failed drug policy that devastated Black communities and other neighborhoods across our state.

Legalization was supposed to come with equity.

Illinois built one of the most ambitious equity frameworks in the country. We created social equity licenses for entrepreneurs from communities harmed by prohibition. We invested in community reinvestment programs. We moved aggressively to clear criminal records that had followed thousands of Illinois residents for years.

Those were important steps.

But it is time for an honest assessment of where we succeeded and where we have fallen short.

There is no question the cannabis industry itself has flourished. In the most recent full year of reporting, Illinois cannabis dispensaries sold more than $2 billion in products, generating over $490 million in tax revenue for the state.

Illinois has generated billions in cannabis sales. The harder question is whether the communities most harmed by prohibition are seeing ownership in the industry that replaced it.

Despite Illinois’ equity framework, Black-owned cannabis businesses still represent only a small share of licensed operators, even though Black communities were disproportionately targeted during the war on drugs.

That gap is not accidental.

Too many social equity applicants spent years navigating lawsuits, regulatory delays and shifting timelines just to receive licenses. Many who finally secured licenses ran into another barrier that was never fully solved: capital.

Opening a cannabis business can require millions of dollars in startup costs once you factor in real estate, buildout, security requirements and compliance expenses. Traditional banks remain largely unavailable because cannabis remains federally illegal. Without access to financing, some equity license holders were forced into complicated investment deals that diluted their ownership or control.

That was never the goal.

Equity cannot mean handing someone a license and wishing them luck in a billion-dollar industry.

Real equity requires real access, access to capital, access to markets and access to the infrastructure necessary to compete.

Illinois must also confront another reality: The early structure of the market allowed existing companies to expand quickly while social equity applicants were still waiting for their opportunity to enter the industry. By the time many equity operators were able to open their doors, much of the market had already matured and consolidated.

Public policy should be judged by outcomes, not intentions, and that standard applies even to the laws we pass ourselves.

Accountability matters here as well. The state created oversight structures to track equity progress, including the Cannabis Equity Commission. Yet that body has struggled to meet regularly. When the entity designed to monitor outcomes and advise policymakers is not consistently convening, it raises legitimate questions about whether Illinois is fully committed to evaluating its own progress.

None of this erases the progress Illinois has made. Record expungements have allowed hundreds of thousands of people to move forward without the burden of past cannabis convictions. Community reinvestment programs are supporting important work in neighborhoods that were hit hardest by the war on drugs.

But if equity was the promise, the metric cannot simply be sales or tax revenue. The real question is ownership.

How many cannabis businesses are owned and controlled by the communities most harmed by prohibition? How much wealth is being created in those communities?

If the answers are limited, then our work is not finished.

Illinois still has the opportunity to strengthen the next phase of legalization by expanding access to patient capital for equity operators, protecting meaningful ownership in social equity licenses and ensuring cannabis revenue continues to be reinvested where the harm occurred.

Illinois showed the country how to legalize cannabis through the legislative process. Now we must show the country how to finish the work we started.

Because if equity remains an aspiration instead of an outcome, legalization will have created a successful industry — but missed the opportunity to deliver justice.

State Rep. Sonya M. Harper, D-Chicago, represents the 6th District.

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