OFFICIALS TO WEIGH MERITS OF POT FINES

On the heels of Mayor Daley's endorsement of a plan to fine people
caught with small amounts of marijuana, representatives of the Cook
County state's attorney's office and the Chicago Police Department
will meet next week about it.

Police Sgt. Tom Donegan came up with the proposal out of frustration
at seeing his misdemeanor marijuana cases get dismissed over and over.
He gave the seven-page proposal to his bosses about two weeks ago.

Mayor Daley embraced the idea Tuesday, saying "it's decriminalized
now" because most misdemeanor pot cases get tossed out. Donegan
estimated fines could raise millions of dollars for city coffers.

Of the 7,430 cases prosecuted in city branch courts in 2003 involving
less than 2.5 grams of pot, 94 percent were dismissed, Donegan wrote,
citing court records. He estimated the department spends $400 on
officers' salaries to process one pot arrest.

And that does not take into account the costs of the clerk's office to
process the paperwork, the sheriff's office to provide security in
court, the state's attorney's costs for the prosecutor and the salary
of the judge, Donegan said.

"We plan to meet with the Chicago Police next week to discuss the pot
issue. We are looking into the legality and constitutionality of
this," said John Gorman, spokesman for the state's attorney's office.

Police spokesman Robert Cargie said "something is wrong" if officers
spend two to four hours to process such pot cases and they are
regularly tossed out.

"Certainly the issue of successful prosecutions will be examined,"
Cargie said. "There are some obvious problems that need some sort of
solution."