Chicago Mayor Wants Illinois To Reform Drug Laws

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday asked state legislators to make possession of less than 1 gram of any controlled substance a misdemeanor in Illinois and possession of less than 15 grams of marijuana a ticketable offense.

Emanuel said in a news release that the Illinois Legislature should reform sentencing laws for low-level drug offenses because it would save taxpayer money and let police focus on more serious crimes.
 
"It doesn't make sense that one arrest for a very small amount of a controlled substance can lead to a lifetime of struggles, sending people in and out of prison and putting up barriers to getting a job or finding a place to live,'' Emanuel said. "We need action from Springfield.''
 
Chicago already has an ordinance that lets police write tickets for possession of as much as 15 grams of marijuana instead of making arrests.

An independent analysis, however, found Chicago police have been slow to embrace the ticket option. The Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy says last year, marijuana violations resulted in arrests - not tickets - nine times out of ten.

Testifying before a special legislative committee that's re-examining crime and punishment in Illinois, Emanuel nevertheless suggested that marijuana tickets ought to be an option for police statewide.

"The state of Illinois is one of the few places in America where our incarceration rates are rising even as crime rates are falling," he said.

Emanuel, along with Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, testified Tuesday before the House-Senate Joint Criminal Reform Committee.

The bipartisan group of legislators is looking at overcrowding in the state's prisons and jails and how to reduce racial disparities in sentencing and the number of people released from prison who commit new crimes.