Winnetka Council bans certain THC, kratom products and amends affordable housing plan

The Winnetka Village Council was in-sync on Tuesday night, Aug. 19, unanimously voting in favor of ordinances on two hot-button topics. 

The first was an ordinance amending the Village Code to prohibit the sale of “illicit THC products and kratom,” the second authorizing the adoption of the Village of Winnetka 2025 Affordable Housing Plan.

THC products ban

The discussions Tuesday kicked off with a presentation, “Cannabis, Intoxicating Hemp, and Kratom,” by Stew Weiss, an attorney representing the village.

Back in April, Winnetka trustees requested more information on these unregulated products, as The Record previously reported, and Weiss’ presentation was designed to give the council more context ahead of their vote on an ordinance to prohibit the sale of these items within the village. 

The ordinance prohibits only the sale of the items, not their possession, in Winnetka.

Weiss walked the council through the history of hemp’s legalization in Illinois, from its approved medical use in 2015 to its legalized recreational use in 2019. 

Ultimately, he said, the series of legislations at the congressional and state levels created a highly regulated, highly taxed, limited-supply, high-demand and pressurized ecosystem filled with people searching for “release valves” and loopholes.

On the other hand, kratom, a botanic plant independent of cannabis, is largely unregulated and has not been banned in Illinois. Kratom contains low levels of 7-OH (hydroxymitragynine), a chemical compound found to have opioid-like effects.

In both cases, these products have created, as Weiss put it, “regulatory hot potatoes” for which decision-making continues to fall more and more to local governments. 

“You may have a Binny’s in your town, but you don’t allow people to sell moonshine,” Weiss offered as an analogy to highlight the regulatory nature of the ordinance.

While one Winnetka resident took to the podium during open comment, calling for a distinction between natural kratom and “7-OH products masquerading as kratom” in its regulation, the Village Council voted unanimously in favor of the ordinance. 

An updated affordable housing plan

For their second key order of business, trustees moved on to a discussion about an amended affordable housing plan. (The village adopted its first affordable housing plan in 2005.)

This ordinance was brought to the forefront after the Illinois Housing Development Authority gave Illinois municipalities such as Winnetka 18 months, with a deadline of Oct. 1, 2026, to approve a new plan that would boost Winnetka’s affordable housing to the minimum of 10% affordable housing stock, as required by Illinois law.

Neighboring communities such as Wilmette, Kenilworth and Highland Park have also recently updated their affordable housing plans to meet state regulations.

“Winnetka does not want to be known as a community that doesn’t want to talk about affordable housing,” resident King Poor said as he took to the lectern in praise of the new initiatives toward affordable housing. 

He continued, “The whole idea of affordable housing has never been a one-size-fits-all kind of thing, it has to be tailored to the character and requirements of a community, but that does not mean that Winnetka should continue just not to have a conversation about it.”

Village Council members echoed Poor’s sentiments as they voted in favor of the ordinance. 

Next, the Village will transmit the plan to the Illinois Housing Development Authority and begin taking steps toward implementation of the plan, which Village President Bob Dearborn recognized will be a lengthy process and likely hot-button topic, as it was when the first affordable housing plan was adopted 20 years ago. 

“This is more the beginning, not the end of this issue,” he said.

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