The Big Payback

On May 31st, 2019, Illinois became the 11th state to legalize cannabis. HB1438, the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, which legalized adult use cannabis in Illinois, was praised as one of the most "equity-centric" policies in the nation and the first to incorporate reparations for the War on Drugs.`

Sadly, there has been no significant progress in advancing economic equity in the cannabis industry, and the reparations promised for the War on Drugs have been abandoned. The Big Payback campaign stands rooted in the promise made by our elected officials to uplift those harmed by the War on Drugs by actualizing reparations.

The Illinois Reparations Coalition builds its vision of Drug War Reparations based on the United Nations’ 5 Pillars of Reparations. One key component of these reparations is satisfaction. We assert with full confidence that survivors of the War on Drugs are not satisfied with the outcomes of HB1438.

“If you stick a knife in my back 9 inches and pull it out 6 inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that is not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made.”— Malcolm X

Survivors of the War on Drugs include individuals whose human rights were violated through incarceration, the loss of family members to the criminal justice system, job loss, housing displacement, and the denial of educational opportunities due to discriminatory Drug War policies.

The War on Drugs destroyed the lives of Black people throughout this country and particularly in Illinois. Through Black Codes and Jim Crow, the U.S. government has consistently demonstrated its commitment to uphold the legacy of slavery. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, except as a punishment for crime. This loophole has led to decades of policies that have targeted the Black population, keeping them enslaved through the penal system.

The Nixon Administration further enhanced the enslavement of Black communities through "The War on Drugs." This government-led initiative birthed an industry of private prisons, leading to the Prison Industrial Complex. From the introduction of the War on Drugs in 1979 to the height of the crack epidemic in the 1980s and until 2009, the private prison industry grew by 1,600%. This growth is a direct result of the racialized War on Drugs and the continued use of Black people as capital.

Today, we see ourselves at a crossroads in this country. Legalized marijuana continues to generate billions of tax dollars across the country and has become a booming industry. As this country builds a new billion-dollar sector, communities of color are still dealing with the repercussions of mass incarceration. Black people have been targeted and criminalized for the very ‘crimes’ that make individuals millionaires today.

In response, the Illinois Reparations Coalition was created to provide all survivors of the War on Drugs in Illinois with reparations, which encompass the following five pillars: