FINE, NOT CONFINE, MARIJUANA USERS?

Chicago Mayor Says Tickets May Be Better Solution Than Jail Time

CHICAGO - Mayor Richard Daley, a former prosecutor, runs the nation's
third-largest city with a pragmatic, law-and-order style. He wears his
hair short, and you'll never catch him in a Grateful Dead T-shirt.

So when he starts complaining about the colossal waste of time and
money involved in prosecuting small-time marijuana cases, people take
notice.

"This is absolutely a big deal," said Andy Ko, director of the Drug
Policy Reform Project for the American Civil Liberties Union in
Washington state. "You've got a mayor in a major American city ...
coming out in favor of a smart and fair and just drug policy."

What Daley did was to say late last month that a police sergeant was
on to something when he suggested that it might be better to impose
fines between $250 and $1,000 for possession of small amounts of
marijuana rather than prosecute the cases.

Sgt. Thomas Donegan determined that nearly 7,000 cases involving 2.5
grams of pot or less were filed last year in Chicago. About 94 percent
were dismissed.

Daley wondered if ticketing offenders might be smarter. "If 99 percent
of the cases are thrown out and we have police officers going (to
court to testify in the cases), why?" the mayor said. "It costs a lot
of money for police officers to go to court."

Police officers are used to spending hours making arrests, writing
reports and waiting around in court, only to see the charges dropped
or a guilty plea that leads to nothing more than probation or
drug-education classes.

"While officers are doing everything to keep the streets safe, the
offender gets arrested and is walking the street in just a few hours,"
Donegan wrote in his report. "To me, this is a slap in the face to the
officers."

Both police and defendants know it's rare for anyone arrested for a small
amount of marijuana to get the maximum penalty in Illinois: 30 days in jail
and a $1,500 fine. Pat Camden, a Chicago police spokesman, said he couldn't
remember a single case.

Chicago wouldn't be the first city to reduce the penalty for
possessing a small amount of marijuana. In Seattle, voters passed an
initiative requiring law-enforcement officials to make personal-use
marijuana cases their lowest priority. In California and Oregon,
possession of a small amount of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable
by a $100 to $500 fine. In Colorado, it doesn't even rise to the level
of misdemeanor; it's a petty offense with a fine of no more than $100.

Some observers say Daley's statements have added weight because of the
mayor's background.

"As a former prosecutor, nobody is going to say he's soft on crime,"
said Dick Simpson, a political science professor at the University of
Illinois at Chicago and a former city alderman.

Chicago officials are a long way from making permanent changes. Still,
Daley's comments alone could have a wide impact.

"This will make it easier for other officials to say the same thing,"
Simpson said. "I can imagine mayors in other cities coming out
agreeing that this shouldn't be treated as a high crime."