Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Cook County board: ticket small marijuana possession

July 21, 2009

Cook County board voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana — less than 10 grams — in unincorporated Cook County. Sheriff’s Police would then have the option of writing a $200 ticket instead of the arresting reeferite on a misdemeanor charge. At present, possession of just 2.5 grams is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine.

And how many get thrown out anyway?

Ticket = money for the county + no record for the person paying the fine. Win-win.

The ordnance needs to be approved by Board President Todd Stroger and would take 60 days to going into effect.

When asked if he would sign it?

STROGER: I don’t know. I wasn’t paying enough attention to it. I’ll find out about it later. I can’t comment on it.

Sheriff TOM DART was surprised that the vote took place without being heard in the public forum.

His spokesman STEVE PATTERSON:

We’d like there to be some discussion on it before it takes effect.

How about the Burr Oak Cemetery investigation already over $300K?

Source: SunTimes’ LISA DONOVAN

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