DALEY HINTS AT CHANGE FOR ILL. DRUG LAWS

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."

The way Daley's thoughts became public was also unusual: There was no
public pressure for the mayor to speak out. He was asked by reporters
who had gotten wind of Donegan's findings and simply answered their
questions.

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 and a former
officer, said he couldn't remember a single case.

Leonardo Nevarez, 23, wasn't worried when an officer found what he
said was half a joint in his pocket in August. He pretty much knew he
would be ordered to attend a drug-education class.

About the only question he had last week when he went to court was
whether the arresting officer would show up. If he didn't, the case
would be dismissed.

"Yeah, I was hoping he wouldn't be there," Nevarez said. "He was
there."

Nevarez said he could have sought a delay in the case, as some
defendants do, in the hopes that the next time the arresting officer
would be absent. But after talking briefly to a public defender, he
entered a plea, the judge ordered the class, and Nevarez went home.

The case had taken up the time of police officers, court clerks, a
judge and an attorney.

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. Police
spokesman David Bayless said the department has yet to determine the
accuracy of Donegan's report, which concludes the city could have
collected more than $5 million in fines last year.

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."