Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A broad ban on hemp products in Chicago advanced in the City Council Wednesday, teeing up a vote that could suddenly shutter the burgeoning industry .

Proponents argue the proposed ban would make Chicago safer by speeding up a pending Congressional prohibition on the products that get users high. But Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has urged aldermen to rework the ordinance with narrower regulations.

Hanging in the balance are dozens of small businesses like Rubina Mirza’s Ukrainian Village shop, Kizmah CBD.

“This proposed ban on these products will put me out overnight and destroy all the hard work I spent with my family building a small business,” Mirza told aldermen as the meeting started in a room packed with hemp supporters.

See Full Page