In the News

Noting – as it’s hard not to – the budget woes of Chicago’s public school system, Illinois Playbook’s Shia Capos asked around for ideas where money might come from.

What do you suppose Mark Peysakhovich said?

Read the October 11 item at Politico.

Writing in Illinois Playbook, her newsletter on Illinois political news, Politico reporter Shia Capos noted that the state’s cannabis industry has a lot of questions about the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s April 30 announcement that it plans to reclassify marijuana.

A looming question, she reported lobbyist Mark Peysakhovich asking: “Is there a way of doing this that could be reversed by Donald Trump if he wins?”

Read the May 1 story at Politico.

A new group of bills in Springfield seek to regulate hemp compounds such as Delta-8 in a manner similar to what is currently in place for cannabis. One bill would also ban the sale of such synthetic THC elements pending further study.

Bill sponsors and supporters point out the hemp-based products are being marketed in ways that resemble cannabis products in terms of branding and/or packaging.

Lobbyist Mark Peysakhovich agreed there is no room for the lookalikes, but added those products are not what his clients’ hemp is all about.

Read the news item at the WJBC Radio website, April 12, 2024

More about the issue at the Quad City Times.

As President Biden announced on October 6 a blanket pardon for those federally convicted of simple marijuana possession, Chicago’s WCPT 820 reached out to Mark for his reactions. Hear what he had to say.

The message: “The president doesn’t necessarily love cannabis,” Mark observed, “But it’s encouraging to see he understands that cannabis isn’t just about drugs…“

The policy impact: “There are only a few thousand people” who have been convicted for possession at the federal level, Mark notes. “But the main issue is…”

The folks at Politico asked a few prominent people around the state, “If you could mentor your younger self, what would you say?” Here’s Mark sharing his personal mantra that he uses “all the time in Springfield” and would have shared with his younger self.

Read the item in Politico’s Illinois Playbook, November 22, 2021

The Legal Cannabis Markets Club at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business was started to “to kindle the fire of conversation about Cannabis markets, and encourage students and the larger Booth community to pay more attention to this burgeoning industry.” The group’s April 2021 inaugural conference, themed “Understanding the Cannabis Landscape,” wrapped up with a panel discussion on equity in the cannabis industry, moderated by Mark Peysakhovich.

Read article in Booth’s Chicago Business, May 17, 2021

Under 2% of Illinois dispensary owners were Black or Latino, and under 25% were women as of June 2020, according to a leaked State of Illinois report. “Following a wave of dispensary purchases since last summer, the number of minority and women owners could be even lower.”

Read the article in Grown In, February 22, 2021 (registration required)

I didn’t anticipate the scope of the state’s failure in the cannabis licensing process. Instead of being the Gold Standard, our story is about to become a cautionary tale. Having spent almost three decades as an Illinois lobbyist and government affairs consultant, I am very familiar with the sausage-making process. I have developed what I call mental callouses; a defense mechanism that reminds me not to expect too much from the cumbersome, opaque and inconsistent performance of state government…

Read the guest editorial in Crain’s Chicago Business by Mark Peysakhovich, September 6, 2020
(subscription required)

Two unsuccessful marijuana dispensary applicants are suing the state, hoping to hit the pause button on its plans to hand out 75 marijuana licenses. Awarding of the licenses is more than four months behind schedule and last week, the state announced that only 21 of 700 applicants would proceed to a lottery for the 75 licenses. “The license application process was highly detailed and intrusive,” noted Mark Peysakhovich.

Read the article and the rest of Mark’s comment below in MJBizDaily, July 10, 2020

Oakton Community College held a series of seminars at its Skokie and Des Plaines campuses for people seeking cannabis seller and growers licenses. As a consultant and lobbyist for the cannabis industry in Illinois, Mark Peysakhovich told participants in the March 2020 event that it would be hard to obtain the right to grow or sell cannabis without social equity qualifications. He gave an assessment of the state’s efforts to amend the process, and offered some advice regarding what to keep in mind when applying for a license.

Read the article in the Chicago Tribune, March 10, 2020 (registration required)