ILLINOIS – As lawmakers work through the final days of the legislative session, some Illinois cannabis business owners are pushing for changes they say would reduce costs and make it easier to operate.

Among their top priorities are adjustments to security and surveillance requirements that dispensary owners argue were put in place when recreational cannabis was still new to Illinois. They say the industry has matured and that some regulations should be updated to reflect that reality.

What’s being proposed:

One of the biggest concerns for dispensary owners involves security requirements.

Under current Illinois law, cannabis dispensaries must contract with third-party security companies. Some operators say that can cost between $180,000 and $200,000 a year.

Supporters of proposed changes say trained employees could be allowed to handle certain security responsibilities, giving businesses more flexibility while maintaining safety standards.

Dispensary owners are also seeking changes to video surveillance requirements.

Current law requires cannabis businesses to store security footage for 90 days. Operators say that can be costly, particularly for smaller businesses, and argue that most issues requiring video review are identified within hours or days.

Industry perspective:

Edie Moore, co-owner of Sway Dispensary in Chicago, said many of the current regulations were created when lawmakers were uncertain about what legal recreational cannabis would look like.

“They threw everything at the wall, everyone was really scared of what recreational cannabis was gonna be like,” Moore said. “And now that we’re several years in, most of us are like, why do we have this? We don’t need this. This is onerous and an overreach.”

Moore said the industry is not asking to eliminate security measures, but rather to modernize regulations that operators believe are unnecessarily burdensome.

What’s next:

The Illinois General Assembly is expected to conclude its spring legislative session this weekend.

“Illinois cannabis is a very young industry,” Moore said. “It’s not a cautionary tale. It’s just really kind of an unfinished story, and we really need the opportunity to finish it, to be treated like any other business and just be able to operate.”

Imagine your unofficial start to summer taking place in Key West, Florida. You’ve made the trip for the Memorial Day weekend from suburban Chicago, and you’ve got plans to enjoy some of the local establishments.

You have an evening of drinks planned on Saturday when all of a sudden those plans get derailed. Bar hopping was likely on the agenda, but there’s no chance doing so in a stolen police car was ever mentioned.

According to the Key West Police Department, John Mack, 38, of La Grange, Illinois, hopped into and took a patrol car from an officer working off-duty at Dante’s Key West Pool Bar & Restaurant.

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Local 10 reports that the KWPD said Mack had been drinking inside the bar and restaurant before the incident, which surveillance video shows took place just before 6:20 p.m. Police say the footage shows him “walking out of the pool bar with two friends and standing a couple of feet away from the patrol vehicle.”

Mack then, allegedly, opened the door, got inside, and drove off, almost hitting two men. A security guard reportedly got the attention of the officer the patrol car belonged to and as other KWPD officers were responding to the bar, Mack drove the car around the parking lot.

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Police say they later found him nearby outside of the Boat House Bar & Grill. He had successfully, it would appear, drunkenly bar hopped in the stolen police car. While he claimed to have had only three to six Coronas, according to police, he failed the field sobriety test.

They then allege he resisted arrest, which caused him to sustain cuts from a fence. He refused a breathalyzer and wasn’t in possession of a valid driver’s license at the time of his arrest. He only had an Illinois ID card on him.

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Mack, who is obviously innocent until proven guilty, was arrested on charges of DUI, burglary, grand theft, grand theft of law enforcement equipment, reckless driving, refusal to submit to DUI testing and resisting arrest without violence.

That is a full Memorial Day weekend no matter how you look at it.