Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill on Tuesday making Illinois the 11th state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults, reports AP.
Why it matters: The bill effectively expunges the criminal records of nearly 800,000 people previously convicted of possessing or selling marijuana, says AP. Illinois is the first state in which legislators designed a "marketplace" for cannabis, prioritizing hopeful cannabis merchants in distressed neighborhoods, per AP. The legislation also directs some tax revenue from marijuana sales to be reinvested into poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
Go deeper: Leaf inequality
