Cannabis is being legalized throughout Illinois starting Jan. 1, 2020. Despite this, cities can pass a local ordinance to opt out of selling it.

According to the Riverbender, communities can’t opt out of personal use; they can only opt out of sales.

Edwardsville’s City Council did the final vote on the topic Tuesday, Sept. 3 to determine if it wanted to opt out of the sale of Cannabis.

The vote was a tie because one of the aldermen was not present and since it was an ordinance, Mayor Hal Patton was unable to vote to break it. This resulted in the ordinance failing to pass, according to the Intelligencer.

Senior Anna Bruss disagrees with the sale of cannabis.

“The way weed affects a person’s body and consciousness normally causes them to make poor choices, and those choices will have an effect on the atmosphere of where we live,” Bruss said.

Junior Emma Krumm thinks the sale can be beneficial.

“I think that people with chronic pain issues should have resources for pain relief. Sometimes cannabis is also used as a sort of cancer pain treatment and I feel like cancer patients should have all the options they can get to have some sort of relief from the pain.”

Krumm said while she does believe cannabis can have a negative effect on people, alcohol also does.

Krumm thinks that recreational cannabis should be available “as long as there’s an age limit, just like with alcohol.”

According to Illinois policy, you can’t buy cannabis or cannabis products when it becomes legalized if you are under 21.

Junior Elizabeth Dawson also said as long as there is an age limit on it, the recreational use should be allowed.

“I think it’s a good idea because unfortunately so many people already use cannabis, but I think it’s better to keep it regulated and safe,” Dawson said. I just hope that people keep it legal and don’t do it underage, because I’m definitely against that.”