Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
Last Friday, Drug War Chronicle reported that the Cook County (greater Chicago) Board had passed a marijuana decriminalization ordinance Tuesday, but that there were mixed signals from Board President Todd Stroger about whether he would sign it or veto it. After equivocating for a couple of days, however, Stroger has told the Chicago Tribune that he will not veto decriminalization.
The measure will go into effect in unincorporated areas of Cook County in 60 days. It will not automatically go into effect in towns and cities in the county, but it will give those municipalities the option of adopting it. Under the ordinance, police officers will have the option of issuing $200 tickets for people caught in possession of 10 grams or less instead of arresting and booking them.
The move has caused some controversy in Illinois, with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who once supported decriminalization, ridiculing it, and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) offering tepid semi-support. Five years ago, Daley supported decrim as a revenue enhancement measure and because "it's decriminalized now... they throw all the cases out."
But Daley was singing a different tune this week. "People say you cannot smoke... They said, 'Please don't smoke.' Now, everybody's saying, 'Let's all smoke marijuana.' After a while, you wonder where America is going," the mayor said. "Pretty soon, the headline [will be], 'Let's bring cigarettes back. It makes people feel calmer, quieter, relaxing.'⦠We said you cannot smoke cigarettes. Cigarette smoking is bad for you. Now all the sudden, marijuana smoking is good for you. Can we take Lucky Strikes, mix 'em together and say, 'Smoking is coming back in the United States?'"
The mayor continued to confuse lessening the penalties for pot possession with advocating its widespread use in his remarkably incoherent remarks. "The issue is really clouded. It's a health issue. We're worried about health care for everyone and, all of the sudden, we think marijuana smoking is the best thing if someone drives down the expressway, someone's driving a cab, someone's driving a bus, someone's flying a plane. After a while, where do you go?" the mayor said.
Gov. Quinn, for his part, suggested that he is open to local decriminalization ordinances, but declined to actually endorse the Cook County Board vote. "I think it's important that counties assess what their law enforcement priorities are," he told Chicago Public Radio. "Crimes that are not grievous crimes against persons need to be looked at," he added.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
I think this is a case where
I think this is a case where everyone should get bizzy and campaign to be TAXED at an endurable rate, even if in the course of a year it averaged out to more money (comparable to a law-enforcement-molestation insurance policy). This expressily punitive $200 fine "option" on the part of an officer amounts to just another opportunity to shock and embarrass a youngster over cannabis, thus playing into the hands of the conspiratorial tobacco industry.
A tax rate on the herb purchased would reward economy practiced by users, and spur interest in non-hot-burning-overdose use methods such as vaporizer, e-cigarette with THC in the cartridge, and long-stemmed one-hitters, which all still retain the disadvantage, under the proposed "decrim" system, of being less easy to hide from spying officers than a "joint", "blunt" etc.
A tax rate of $50 per ounce, such as mentioned in proposals in California and elsewhere, would cost moderate users
(Qur'an-Compliant Riefer Moderation Regimen =
ten (10) 25-mg. tokes per two (2) days =
1826 servings per year)
about $100 a year. A typical 500-mg. "joint", designed to be burned away in a few minutes, would break down into 20 single 25-mg. servings, each executable at a different appropriate time and place, perhaps over a period of several days. This is a case where tax policy can educate rather than merely victimize-- as the Clinton administration said of abortion, "(smoking) should be safe, legal and rare."
Chicago Decrim
Maybe the folks in Cook County can do an end run around Daley?
It would seem to me significant for Obama's home city to decrim, if not fully relegalize. It would also be significant for the 2nd largest city in the nation to reform Marijuana.
Here in Indiana, we need our neighbors to start putting the squeeze on Hoosiers. With Michigan having gone for medical, Ohio having a great medical bill pending, and with Cook County coming on board, maybe the bozos in the Indiana legislature will get a clue.
In reply to Chicago Decrim by neal smith (not verified)
Bayh is BS
I wrote sen Evan Bayh about too much police power and militariztion of the police against the citizens, the cost to the taxpayer of incarcerating non-violent drug offenders. How it could open a whole new industry for the people of indiana. How our prisons and city jails are bursting at the seams. Also how money diverted from the drug war and taxes could be diverted into healtcare or education or many other things better for the people. Stop spending my money on prosecuting cannabis users and all non-violent drug offenders may be if they were educated or had healthcare people could get help before they turn to drugs including alcohol and tobacco
His response: "If legislation to legalize cannabis ever comes up, I will NOT support it. Of all of the issues I talked about in my letter that was his response. He singled out cannabis and responded to that.
His wife sits on the boards of four public health care companies who the healthcare bill would effect. She made 2.1 million dollars from 06-08 just for sitting on these boards. Should susan bayhs lucrative paydays for sitting on these coporate boards create a conflict of interest. Not according to senator Bayh who is also benefitting. Pharmacutical companies dont want cannabis legal, then how could they charge 800$ a pill for marinal.Not to mention allof the other outrageously priced side effect laden pharmacuticals. hmmm get him the fuck out of Indiana!!!
Veto it!
Why is it that drug policy-makers always fail to look at the big picture? What are our goals as a society regarding this issue? The number one goal here should be to minimize or (and I recognize this next word may be a pipe dream) eliminate all drug use. This includes tobacco and alcohol. With regard to marijuana, the penalties for minor possession should be at least as stiff as for a DUI with a provision for a reduced penalty if the offender provides credible information that leads to the arrest and conviction of drug dealer. This way we discourage demand and attack the supply network a the same time. I work with many young people and those with DUI convictions swear up and down that they will never do it again. Those with minor marijuana possession charges just blow it off; because the weak judges we have in cook county will most likely hit them with a small fine or dismiss the case entirely. The over-incarceration of non-violent drug-offenders is a fallacy. If you're in prison around here for marijuana possession, you had intent to sell. If you're dealing, that's a violent, oppressive act. Some people want to dress it up in the medical marijuana fallacy to make it palatable to the public; however, any decent physician will tell you that regardless of their personal beliefs, the inability to control dosages and ensure product quality makes marijuana a very poor medical remedy. Besides that, the side-effects of prolonged euphoria, paranoid delusions and short-term memory loss (not to mention the effects of inhaling smoke into the lungs) often outweigh any medical benefit which could be derived from less hazardous alternatives. The whole medical marijuana non-sense is just pro-pot propaganda designed to manipulate the masses. Don't buy into it. Stay free from the oppression and tyranny of drugs. Fight to keep your communities clean.
Prohibition
Andrew your sad and distorted view makes you
very arrogant and ignorant. Its about money being
wasted. It is a waste spending money on a war
that will never be one and quite frankly is a violation
of a truly free society. maybe you can fly to the
middle east where people like you are loved.!!
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