Preckwinkle, Superintendent McCarthy agree on ticketing for marijuana possession

By Sebastian James at February 9, 2012 | 9:52 am | Print

An excerpt from a February 8, 2012 story as it appeared in the Chicago Tribune:

Drug enforcement measures in place for decades have filled jails with poor and minority offenders, marred police officers’ credibility in the neighborhoods they patrol and fractured communities, Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle agreed at a forum Wednesday night.

“(Drug use) is a driver of crime, but we have adopted a policy that it is the crime itself,” McCarthy said at Chicago Forward, a panel discussion hosted by the Tribune at the Chase Auditorium downtown.

Shutting down known drug markets and bringing in social services and other community support to “hold that territory” would be key to reducing crime and violence, he said…

…Preckwinkle has endorsed making the possession of small amounts of marijuana an offense that would draw a ticket and a fine, rather than landing the offender in jail. McCarthy concurred, saying pointedly he was against legalizing the drug, but that the city is working on making marijuana possession a ticketing offense.

“I’m all in favor of issuing tickets (for possession of small amounts),” McCarthy said. “That way, I have my officers back” to work on patrol, rather than transporting offenders to jail…..

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Picture courtesy of the Chicago Tribune. 

Courts and Public Safety News President's Office