VILLAGE ADOPTS CANNABIS ORDINANCE

BLOOMINGDALE -- Trustees have approved an ordinance that imposes fines for
possession of cannabis or cannabis-related paraphernalia.

Tom Howard, the village's director of legal affairs, said the new ordinance
will help with prosecutions of motorists driving while under the influence
of alcohol and in possession of marijuana.

The ordinance provides for fines ranging from $750 to $1,000 and Class A, B
and C misdemeanors depending on the amount of cannabis offenders are found
to have.

Bloomingdale police allege that in recent years about 1 in 10
drunken-driving arrests also involves marijuana use or possession.

Trustee Patrick DeMoon said that without a village ordinance criminalizing
cannabis possession, portions of these cases are prosecuted at the state
level and others at the local level. He said the ordinance will result in a
single prosecution and will eliminate some confusion.

Village officials said Naperville and several other local municipalities
also have enacted similar cannabis possession ordinances for prosecutorial
reasons.