Skip to Content
Logo
Menu
  • About Our Firm
  • Practice Areas
  • Our People
  • Learning Library
  • Corporate Transparency Act
  • Contact
  • Make A Payment

Legalized Recreational Marijuana Comes to the Midwest

Legalized Recreational Marijuana Comes to the Midwest

November 14, 2018

Michigan residents voted to legalize the recreational use of marijuana on November 6, 2018. Michigan, not normally known as a bellwether state, becomes the first state in the Midwest to legalize recreational pot. In early December, individuals age 21 and older will be able to legally purchase, possess and use marijuana and marijuana infused edibles in Michigan.

Michigan will impose a 10% tax on pot growers, processors, transporters and retailers. Marijuana will not be commercially available for sale in Michigan until 2020. This delay will allow the state to develop regulations and issue licenses. At a minimum, the following regulations will pertain to the employer/employee relationship:

  • Michigan employers can continue to prohibit marijuana and its use while employees are working, including being under the influence.
  • Employers can continue to refuse to hire applicants who test positive for marijuana.
  • Employers can continue to discipline or terminate employees who test positive for marijuana.

What About Illinois?

Illinois legalized limited medical use of marijuana and decriminalized the possession of 10 grams or less of marijuana effective 2014.

A Paul Simon Institute poll conducted in March 2018 shows that approximately two-thirds of Illinois residents support legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

Governor-elect JB Pritzker says he will work with Illinois’ House of Representatives and Senate to begin the process of legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. Pritzker says that legalizing marijuana will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue and reduce opioid overdoses.

What About Illinois Employers?

Legalized recreational marijuana is coming to Illinois. For employers, there will be a variety of considerations:

  • As we opined in 2017, safety has to be the number one consideration for employers when they consider how they will address legalized marijuana in Illinois. If off duty recreational marijuana use is incompatible with the type of business you run, then drug testing and prohibition for positive test results should be maintained.
  • No matter what the states do, marijuana is still an illegal drug under federal law. This will not change. Therefore, employers can still take a “hard line” against testing positive for marijuana use if they want to.
  • Many employers face tight labor markets. These same employers are sometimes reluctant to hire job applicants who test positive for marijuana usage. If recreational use is legalized in Illinois, employers may feel more free to expand their available labor market.

The legalization of marijuana in Illinois will affect the relationship between employers and employees. There will be no one size fits all answer, however, to the quandaries that employers are sure to face.

Related Attorneys

Clingen Callow & McLean, LLC
Lisle Office
2300 Cabot Drive, Suite 500
Lisle, Illinois, 60532
Phone 630.871.2600
Geneva Office
21 North 4th Street
Geneva, Illinois, 60134
Phone 630.938.4769
Fax 630.871.9869
General Inquires [email protected]
  • facebook
  • linkedin

Contact Us

©2025 Clingen Callow & McLean, LLC. All rights reserved.

Law Firm Web Design by NMC

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}