CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PRESS RELEASE--Cresco Labs, one of the largest vertically integrated multistate cannabis operators in the United States, has announced that Charles Bachtell, co-founder and CEO of Cresco Labs, has been appointed to the Cannabis Legalization Subcommittee of Illinois Gov.-Elect JB Pritzker’s transition team. Cannabis Legalization is one of four subcommittees under the governor-elect’s Restorative Justice and Safe Communities Transition Committee. Bachtell will collaborate with other civic, judicial and social justice leaders named to the committee. Within the group, he is the only cannabis industry operator appointed to provide input that will shape the possibility of legal adult-use cannabis in Illinois.

The primary goals of the Cannabis Legalization Subcommittee are to evaluate and develop implementation recommendations for the governor-elect's platform on legalizing cannabis. As outlined during the campaign, these priorities include safely legalizing and decriminalizing cannabis, reviewing and commuting the sentences of people incarcerated for cannabis offenses in Illinois, intentionally including black and brown entrepreneurs in the planning and licensing of new cannabis dispensaries and reinvesting in communities hit hardest by the war on drugs and the legacy of mass incarceration.

“It is a great honor to be appointed by Gov.-Elect JB Pritzker to work with an esteemed group of leaders to advance legalization of cannabis in Illinois, a state that has been historically been one of the most highly regulated markets in the country,” said Bachtell. “At Cresco, we were one of the first cannabis companies to successfully win licenses and scale our business in this highly competitive market. We understand the Illinois market – our home state – very well and have been active in endorsing legislation that will protect and support the well-being of our citizens.”

Named one of the “Top 100 Cannabis Leaders of 2018” by Entrepreneur, Bachtell co-founded Cresco Labs in 2016 with the vision of normalizing and professionalizing the cannabis industry. Bachtell is an attorney with deep legal expertise in regulatory compliance and is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on regulatory affairs in some of the nation’s most heavily regulated industries. He serves as an adjunct professor at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law teaching classes on legal and regulatory matters concerning the emerging cannabis industry and has leadership positions in numerous cannabis trade associations across the country.