VIDEO | Here’s Illinois Governor-Elect J.B. Pritzker on legalizing pot “nearly right away” in Illinois Wednesday

My favorite parts:

J.B. Pritzker: “We have an opportunity here in Illinois to bring $700 million of revenue to the state to create jobs across the state. Production facilities, dispensaries, and to reserve some of the licenses for people who have been most put upon and ill effected by the War on Drugs.”

Reporter: “So for African Americans or others who had been arrested, would you be looking to vacate all those arrest records?”

J.B. Pritzker: “I definitely wanna look at all those arrest records. If we’re gonna legalize recreational marijuana, and we shouldn’t have all of the what I think are, you know, challenges in our criminal justice system still existing. People are sitting in prison for things that are currently legal.”

Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton: “In addition to looking at the criminal records and making sure that those can be freed up upon legalizing recreational cannabis, the other thing that we’ve also looked at is making sure that those same communities that have been disproportionately effected by the War on Drugs can have economic opportunities in this industry.”