First Reading at July 16 Meeting

GALESBURG - After initial discussion over a city ordinance that would allow police to ticket individuals found with small amounts of marijuana stalled in March, the Galesburg City Council is poised to pick up the topic once again for a first reading on July 16.

A proposal spearheaded by Ward 7 Alderman Jeremy Karlin to lessen the penalty for possession of 2.5 grams or less of marijuana was tabled by Mayor Sal Garza in March, when he removed the item from the council's agenda so further dialogue with the community could be had.

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I liked James E. Gierach's thoughtful letter in the July 5 Sun-Times: "To stop killings, take profit out of guns."

But I did not like the title you assigned to it. Gierach did not advocate removing profit from gun sales. He advocated removing the profit from drugs.

I'd like to add that drugs and gangs seem to go hand-in-hand.

From 1920 to 1933, alcohol and gangs went hand-in-hand. Back then, alcohol was completely unregulated, untaxed and controlled by criminal gangs - just like meth and other recreational drugs are today.

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Letters to the Editor July 5, 2012

Yes, gun control is no joke [Chicago Sun-Times, editorial, July 3], with Chicago kids dropping like flies in some city neighborhoods especially on weekends. Exhibit A last weekend: Nine people shot dead and 22 wounded.

But with an estimated 200 million guns in private hands, the United States needs to take the profit out of drugs more than guns out of the hands of citizens to stop the killing. And selling gun-buyback programs as a violence solution is like selling lead life preservers to the drowning.

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"How is it that tobacco is legal and kills thousands of people a year, and marijuana is illegal and used for medicine? Duh! Beam me up Scottie, there's no intelligent life down here."

Steve Parson Stockton

[end]

Local and federal authorities Tuesday night confiscated about 8 tons of marijuana in what is believed to be one of the largest pot seizures ever in Chicago, sources said.

The seizure of roughly 16,000 pounds of marijuana came a day before the Chicago City Council passed a city ordinance that decriminalizes small amounts of the drug.

The pot seizure was made through a collaborative investigation of the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Further details, including where the confiscation took place, were not available.

A news conference on the seizure is set for Thursday.

[end]

Nobody asked what the Chicago City Council was smoking when it passed a new ordinance allowing police to ticket - rather than arrest - most marijuana smokers.

Chicagoans interviewed Wednesday backed the plan to issue tickets for those caught with no more than 15 grams of pot, saying it should raise money while freeing police to deal with more serious crime.

"It seems to make sense to me," said Mark Ulrich, 40. "It leaves the court system free to handle more serious things."

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Latest Emanuel Initiative Could Reap Millions More From Scofflaws

The Chicago City Council voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to decriminalize marijuana possession, joining a wave of states and big cities that have opted for fines instead of arrests for small amounts of the drug.

Starting Aug. 4, police can issue tickets of $250 to $500 for someone caught with 15 grams or less of pot - the equivalent of about 25 cigarette-sized joints. Given that more than 18,000 people are arrested for pot possession in Chicago each year, the new law could generate millions of dollars for the city.

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Your editorial over ticketing those found with small amounts of cannabis missed an opportunity to shed light on the absurdity of how our country made cannabis illegal. Fear and racism were the driving factors that made cannabis illegal in 1937; this injustice has lasted more than 70 years. We have industries that exist only because this plant has been wrongly demonized, like drug testing and a bloated criminal-justice system.

We have alcohol ads everywhere and culturally have embraced alcohol consumption. Take kids to a baseball game and the drunks will surely send a message to youngsters that drinking too much makes people act stupid. Nevertheless we have plenty of taverns, liquor stores and tax revenue from the legal sales of alcohol, and there are not gangsters selling alcohol anymore since the repeal of Prohibition.

We need to return to a world where freedom and liberty are taken seriously in this country and legalize cannabis, not because we need the revenue but because the farce of cannabis prohibition has lasted for too long.

- - Dan Linn, executive director, Illinois NORML, Chicago

[end]

Despite the best efforts of community leaders and government agencies across the suburbs to battle heroin, it has proved to be a resilient and dangerous opponent. But now comes a promising strategy from a new quarter.

For many years, the addictive drug has weathered the traditional anti-drug messages, campaigns and community forums aimed at exposing the dangers it poses. What we've labeled in our ongoing coverage as the Hidden Scourge continues to kill in growing numbers across the region, and we've shared the frustration of police, parents and teachers. Now, a new breed of anti-drug crusader organizing in the suburbs offers unique hope.

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For all their fears of sending the wrong message to kids about pot, a drug some view as a gateway to more serious substances, aldermen have an overriding concern: getting more police officers on the street to stop a 35 percent spike in homicides.

That's why members of the City Council's Committee on Public Safety hemmed and hawed Thursday but easily approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to ticket people for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

They believe Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy when he says issuing pot tickets will free officers to concentrate on the gang violence that's fueling the rise in homicides instead of being tied up on small-time marijuana arrests - 90 percent of which result in no conviction.

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When a Proposed Marijuana Ordinance Is a Proxy for a Different Debate

With Chicago's murder rate up 35 percent and the city too broke to hire more cops, a plan to ticket people caught with small amounts of marijuana instead of arresting them suddenly has wings.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has given it his blessing. Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says the proposed ordinance would free up more than 20,000 hours of police time for more pressing concerns. It could save $1 million in enforcement costs and generate millions more in fines. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says minor possession cases clog the criminal justice system and affect poor and minority families disproportionately.

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Policy Clears Committee After Changes to Ease Aldermen's Concerns

A panel of Chicago aldermen spent three hours Thursday voicing skepticism about Mayor Rahm Emanuel's marijuana ticket proposal, then all but one council member voted for it.

If the plan wins final approval at Wednesday's City Council meeting, police could be issuing pot-possession tickets as early as July. Officers would continue to arrest people caught smoking marijuana or carrying it on park or school grounds. Authorities also would arrest anyone younger than 17 caught with pot or anyone they believed was trying to sell the drug.

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Councilman Wants More Details About Ticketing Vs. Arrests

An influential Chicago alderman said Monday that he's not ready to sign off on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Although Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, didn't rule out backing the mayor's plan, the veteran City Council member said he needs to know more about when police will write tickets instead of making arrests.

"If you run across somebody that's violating the law and you want to write them a ticket as opposed to taking them into custody, and that person has no identification, how do you write the ticket?" Burke asked, after a speech at the City Club of Chicago.

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Police Would Be Able to Ticket for Minor Offenses

After deliberating for months, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday decided to throw his public support behind a plan to issue tickets to people caught with small amounts of marijuana instead of arresting them.

Under the proposal, police officers would have the discretion to issue citations with fines ranging from $100 to $500 for people carrying 15 grams or less of pot.

Last fall, Ald. Danny Solis, 25th, introduced a similar plan, selling the idea as a way to raise revenue for the city and free up police to chase more serious criminals. Emanuel is getting behind a modified version of Solis' original ordinance.

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I want to say right off the bat without any hesitation or equivocation whatsoever that I happen to like prosecutors and cops. I respect and honor their difficult jobs. I couldn't do what they do, so I'm glad they're there for me and everyone else.

But as much as I revere them, as much as I respect them, I believe they've had far too much power over the state legislative process.

For instance, some very well-intentioned, decent people have been trying to pass a medical marijuana bill here for years. Law enforcement always stops it dead in its tracks. Why? Well, the answers range from "We'd be sending the wrong message to children," to "marijuana is a bad thing." And you can forget about trying to decriminalize or, heaven forbid, legalize marijuana possession.

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Politicians oppose marijuana reform at their own peril. For years now we've been close to passing a medical marijuana law in Illinois, but we can't seem to get it done because legislators think they have to be "tough on crime."

Well, if they paid attention to their constituents they'd know most think smoking marijuana shouldn't be a crime anyway. A poll by Rasmussen showed 56 percent of voters support legalizing marijuana and taxing and regulating it like alcohol (just 36 percent were opposed).

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I'd like to add that I've been buying beer and wine for more than 40 years. Yet, I've never been offered a free sample of whiskey, gin, vodka or any other hard liquor. However, when I was a marijuana user I was frequently offered free samples of much more dangerous drugs such as cocaine and meth by my marijuana suppliers.

If we regulate, control and tax the sale and production of marijuana and sell it in licensed business establishments like we do with tobacco products, we will close the gateway from marijuana to hard drugs.

Speaking of taxes, it seems to me that non-marijuana users would be very much in favor of taxing a product that they don't use. Around these parts, taxing someone else's vice is very popular.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

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Peru police Detective Dennis Potthoff unzipped an alligator skin suitcase, donned a pair of gloves and began unloading vacuum-packed bags of marijuana onto a police table.

One thing about packaged cannabis: It reeks. The crime lab had cut open a few packages for testing, but even the sealed plastic bags couldn't contain the strong, fetid odor.

The suitcase was seized from a motorist charged with a felony, though by Illinois Valley standards this 50-pound seizure is chump change. Hundreds of pounds flow through the area with regularity, frustrating law enforcement officers. Cannabis is a plague.

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I'm writing about the thoughtful letter from LaMar Hasbrouck, MD: "My View: Cigarette tax a budget, health win-win" (May 18). Like the majority of citizens, I am all for taxing a product that I don't use. But I am also for taxing a product that I do use: marijuana.

For many reasons, I prefer marijuana to alcohol. Does this make me a bad person? And for many reasons, I prefer marijuana to powerful painkillers like Vicodin. Does this make me a bad person?

Both alcohol and painkillers kill thousands of people every year. Yet marijuana use has never killed anyone. So please tax my vice.

Kirk Muse Mesa, AZ (formerly of Freeport)

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I would shrug and say "So what?" to the latest details from President Barack Obama's potsmoking past, except for one thing: He stirred so much hope as a candidate for sensible marijuana policy reforms but, as president, has delivered so little change.

David Maraniss brings all that back to mind with his forthcoming book, "Barack Obama: The Story," which has been leaking like a sieve to major media in advance of its publication. Published accounts of Obama's days at Punahou, the private Hawaiian prep school that he attended in the 1970s, make the future president sound like a classic stoner.

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