MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION WILL NOT LEAD TO MORE DANGEROUS DRUGS

St. Clair County Sheriff Mearl Justus said he thinks it's only a
matter of time before Illinois legalizes possession of small amounts
of marijuana. This means you won't get arrested for the dime bag you
just so happen to have in your pocket when you're pulled over for
speeding, which of course, belongs to your "friend."

I don't smoke pot. In fact, I rarely smoke anything. However, I do
believe that marijuana should be decriminalized and used medicinally.
For the past year, I have eagerly followed Illinois' Compassionate Use
of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act pass from Senate to House where
it has sat idly since May of this year. If possession of marijuana is
decriminalized, it should be the result of the legalization of medical
cannabis, not because of the legalization of recreational usage.

Stephen McArthur of Belleville, Justus' contender in the upcoming
election, abides by the most popular declamation against
decriminalization of marijuana, that it is a gateway drug to more
dangerous drugs. This is absolutely absurd. I have yet to meet a
stoner who has turned to cocaine, heroin or meth and I'm from
California where the license to build four large-scale medical
marijuana factories was approved in Oakland in July of this year.

On Thursday, my dear Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger decriminalized
possession of less than an ounce of marijuana because it is "an
infraction in everything but name."

In other words, it's not worth the hassle. "In this time of drastic
budget cuts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, and the
courts cannot afford to expend limited resources prosecuting a crime
that carries the same punishment as a traffic ticket," Schwarzenegger
added.

Here's the deal: it costs too much to arrest stupid kids for having
under an ounce of marijuana. Justus estimates the cost to go through
the sheriff's department, state's attorney's office, the drug test lab
and the courts to be $358. Decriminalization of possession of
marijuana will save state money for every $358 arrest that won't happen.