Pubdate: Fri, 26 Sep 2014
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2014 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZ
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Authors: John Keilman and Matt Walberg
Page: 1

SUBURBAN COPS RIP EMANUEL DRUG PLAN

Officials Say Relaxing Penalties Wrong Signal, Wouldn't Help Addicts

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to change the terms of the drug 
war by lessening the penalties for low-level possession is getting 
blowback from the suburbs, with some prosecutors and police chiefs 
saying it sends an unhelpful message at a time when heroin overdoses 
are claiming hundreds of lives.

Emanuel said this week that he wants the state legislature to change 
the possession of 1 gram or less of any controlled substance to a 
misdemeanor from a Class 4 felony, which can bring prison time and 
lessen the chances of future employment.

He said that would be a more efficient and compassionate way to 
handle addiction, and would free police to deal with more serious 
crimes. But some in suburban law enforcement say they don't agree 
with the solution, and don't want it forced upon them.

"The north suburbs are seeing a very serious heroin epidemic and an 
alarming increase in heroin overdose deaths," said Des Plaines police 
Chief William Kushner, who spent nearly 30 years in the Chicago 
Police Department. "It's an equal-opportunity killer that does not 
discriminate, and if we allow any kind of possession of heroin to be 
a misdemeanor, shame on our society."

For Emanuel, loosening drug possession penalties is viewed as a 
significant part of a larger political puzzle he's trying to solve as 
he stands for re-election in February. He wants state lawmakers to 
require mandatory prison sentences for illegal gun possession, which 
he says would help stem the city's violence.

That effort, however, stalled nearly a year ago amid opposition from 
African-American legislators opposed to stricter gun sentences. The 
calculation, political observers say, is that adding the drug 
possession measure alongside the tougher gun proposals will help win 
support among black lawmakers who don't want to see the futures of 
young people ruined by minor drug charges.

Yet police officials in the suburbs, whose residents account for a 
sizable portion of customers in Chicago's drug markets, say they 
don't want the changes Emanuel's measure would bring.

"Almost every single burglary arrest we make, retail theft arrest we 
make, they're all either under the influence of drugs or they're 
committing these crimes to get money for heroin or meth," said 
Riverside police Chief Tom Weitzel, who also heads the West Suburban 
Enhanced Drug/ Gang Enforcement task force. "They're not committing 
them to have money to go buy a new pair of shoes. They're doing that 
so they can go supply their habit.

"This proposal sounds like a way to not put more defendants in jail, 
which I'm not against. But it does nothing for the user, who's going 
to probably go out again and get another misdemeanor. I mean, what 
are we doing?"

Emanuel's plan is the latest twist in a rapidly changing legal 
atmosphere surrounding drug possession. Marijuana laws are growing 
less stringent, and some states are rethinking penalties for harder 
substances. California, for example, has an initiative on the fall 
ballot that would turn "personal use" quantities of drugs like heroin 
or cocaine into a misdemeanor.

Advocates of changing the nation's drug laws have long called for 
such liberalization. Roosevelt University drug researcher Kathleen 
Kane-Willis said putting it in place in Illinois would make a big 
difference in the lives of people caught with small amounts of drugs.

"A Class 4 felony will stop you from being able to get all kinds of 
employment and housing," she said. "You'll get no financial aid 
through school. There is a possibility that four years down the road 
you might be able to seal (the court records), but that's an 
adversarial process."

Chelsea Laliberte, who formed the Lake Zurich-based advocacy group 
Live4Lali after her brother's heroin overdose death, said changing 
the law could also soften the stigma that accompanies addiction.

"Our prison systems are beyond clogged up with people who don't need 
to be there," she said. "This continues to perpetuate the erroneous 
notion that people who do drugs are 'bad' and thus deserve to be 
treated as such."

But like numerous suburban police chiefs contacted by the Tribune, 
Naperville's Bob Marshall worried that Emanuel's measure would convey 
a different message.

"We'd basically be contradicting the message we've been sending 
(that) this is a dangerous drug and stay away from it," he said.

Laimutis Nargelenas, a lobbyist for the Illinois Association of 
Chiefs of Police, said his organization "adamantly opposed" the proposal.

"Many times, the first time an individual is able to get help with 
their drug problem is because of an arrest," he said. "In this case, 
it's going to be a very minor violation, and the court may just let it go."

Lake County State's Attorney Mike Nerheim said people convicted of 
lowlevel drug possession are not sent to prison as it is but diverted 
to probation or treatment programs. If they do well, he said, they're 
able to clear the felony off their records.

"I agree with the notion that people shouldn't go to jail for 
possessing drugs ... but sometimes people need the threat of 
incarceration over their head to be successful in treatment," he said.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who regards Emanuel as an 
ally on public safety matters, said she, too, had "strong 
reservations" about the plan, whose details remain sketchy.

"What about GHB?" she asked, referencing the socalled date rape drug. 
"I would certainly never be in favor of reducing (the penalties for) that."

Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins said the mayor would consider 
excluding GHB from the measure but otherwise considered it a sensible proposal.

"There is no evidence that incarceration is a deterrent to drug use, 
and based on the experience of the 13 other states that have this 
policy in place, there is no reason to believe that this will cause 
an increase in drug abuse or drug deaths," Collins said.

Former heroin user Nick Gore of Bartlett was caught with just over a 
gram of the drug in Chicago in late 2011. After a brief stay in jail, 
he said, his parents bailed him out and an attorney got the case dismissed.

Gore, 30, said the episode pushed him onto the right track and that 
he has been clean for more than two years. He said he appreciated 
that the mayor's plan would keep users out of jail but said lowering 
the legal penalty would be meaningless unless accompanied by treatment.

"There has to be a plan beyond (the misdemeanor charge)," he said. 
"You can't just say, 'It's not a felony, we're going to let you go.' "
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom