Illinois where I live is a fucked up state but there is an upside. They are so desperate for more revenue they have made the special substance legal starting in 2020.

I will probably be buying some marijuana edibles in 2020. I hope I will be able to order the stuff on the internet. I don't think Amazon will be selling it but that would be so nice.

An interesting fact: I have been an Amazon customer since 2003, 16 years ago.

Another interesting fact: If I bought a lot of Amazon shares in 2003 I would be a millionaire today.

This is too boring for most people to read. I'm putting it here for myself.

Wall Street Journal - Illinois Budget Woes: Still Smoking

The state’s decision to legalize gambling and marijuana helps immediate problems but delays the state’s inevitable financial collapse.

By Lauren Silva Laughlin

June 11, 2019

Illinois is trying to pull off a circus act to improve its financial position. Ratings firms aren’t amused.

State lawmakers have legalized gambling and marijuana in an effort to patch the state’s fiscal mess. Meanwhile, changes have been made to the state’s tax structure to put it in a more viable short-term financial position. But Illinois’s pension deficits are too far gone and its leaders are quickly running out of tricks.

Over the past couple of weeks the state has ushered in plans that would add casinos, including in Chicago, and legalize sports betting, as well as allowing cannabis sales starting in 2020. It is part of the Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “think big” plan that has won bipartisan support. It includes other measures to raise more revenue such as changing the state’s flat tax to a graduated income-tax system.

Bickering among politicians kept lawmakers from passing a budget for two years. As a result, the state piled up unpaid bills. Such irresponsibility has earned Illinois the lowest ratings of all 50 states from Moody’s Investors Service, though it remains barely investment grade.

Revenue provided by the new measures pales in comparison to stored-up problems. Illinois’s pension systems had a $162.5 billion funding hole, according to calculations in November by rating agency Fitch. Like nearly every state and municipality, those calculations rest on an ambitious rate of return, particularly in comparison to today’s bond yields. Unlike most, Illinois is mulling the issuance of tax-exempt bonds that would bolster pension funds in the hope of earning an excess return—a risky strategy it has tried in the past. Chicago, in an even worse position, mulled a $10 billion bond last summer. Independent analysts using more realistic rates of return reckon that the state’s pensions may only be about a fifth funded.

The good news is that the state’s show of political resolve and its Las Vegas-style solutions have assuaged ratings firms in the short run. They aren’t rushing to upgrade the state either, though. Atoning for its past sins will be far more difficult.