SmokeDog420
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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 talking about what a colossal waste of time and money it is to prosecute small-time marijuana possession 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 that is not thought of as the People's Republic of Seattle and the People's Republic of San Francisco coming out in favor of a smart and fair and just drug policy."
What Daley did was to say 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 had determined that 94 percent of nearly 7,000 cases involving 2.5 grams of marijuana or less filed last year in the city were dismissed anyway.
Daley wondered if perhaps ticketing offenders might be the better way to go.
"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."
That reality is nothing new to the officers, who 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 the 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'd 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 dragged the case a long a little longer, as some defendants do when they see their arresting officers in court, in the hopes that the next time he was in court the arresting officer wouldn't be there. 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 if it reduced the penalty for possessing a small amount of marijuana. 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.
It was the way Daley's thoughts on the subject became public that was so unusual: There was no public pressure for the mayor to speak out, he just did.
In Seattle, voters passed an initiative requiring law-enforcement officials to make personal use marijuana cases their lowest priority, and in Oakland there is a similar initiative on the November ballot. Chicago has nothing of the sort.
"This isn't anything the voters had to push politicians into taking this position," said Graham Boyd, who heads the ACLU's Drug Law Reform Project.
Some observers say Daley's statements also 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 is a long way from changing how it handles marijuana cases. Police spokesman David Bayless said the department has yet to study Donegan's report to determine if the conclusion that the city could have collected more than $5 million in fines is even accurate.
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
Source: Associated Press
Published: October 2, 2004
Copyright: 2004 The Associated Press
So when he starts talking about what a colossal waste of time and money it is to prosecute small-time marijuana possession 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 that is not thought of as the People's Republic of Seattle and the People's Republic of San Francisco coming out in favor of a smart and fair and just drug policy."
What Daley did was to say 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 had determined that 94 percent of nearly 7,000 cases involving 2.5 grams of marijuana or less filed last year in the city were dismissed anyway.
Daley wondered if perhaps ticketing offenders might be the better way to go.
"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."
That reality is nothing new to the officers, who 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 the 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'd 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 dragged the case a long a little longer, as some defendants do when they see their arresting officers in court, in the hopes that the next time he was in court the arresting officer wouldn't be there. 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 if it reduced the penalty for possessing a small amount of marijuana. 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.
It was the way Daley's thoughts on the subject became public that was so unusual: There was no public pressure for the mayor to speak out, he just did.
In Seattle, voters passed an initiative requiring law-enforcement officials to make personal use marijuana cases their lowest priority, and in Oakland there is a similar initiative on the November ballot. Chicago has nothing of the sort.
"This isn't anything the voters had to push politicians into taking this position," said Graham Boyd, who heads the ACLU's Drug Law Reform Project.
Some observers say Daley's statements also 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 is a long way from changing how it handles marijuana cases. Police spokesman David Bayless said the department has yet to study Donegan's report to determine if the conclusion that the city could have collected more than $5 million in fines is even accurate.
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
Source: Associated Press
Published: October 2, 2004
Copyright: 2004 The Associated Press
