Those lines around the block for recreational pot, that eye-popping $10.8 million in sales over the first five days, the talk of supply shortages and an oversupply of license applicants: They’ve got Illinois giddy about pot.

Sort of like a teenager smoking that first joint.

And the best advice I can give — to policymakers, budget setters and novice pot smokers alike — is to take it slow. Don’t overindulge. To assume, based on these first few days, that Illinois’ experiment with cannabis will be a surefire success would be a new form of reefer madness.

That’s not to say Illinois’ experiment with weed will fail. Or that it was a bad idea from the start.

Read the rest at chicagotribune.com

David Greising is the president and chief executive of the Better Government Association, joining the BGA in 2018. For nearly a century, the BGA has fought for honest and effective government through investigative journalism and policy advocacy.