Marijuana Decriminalized in Urbana
You may be surprised to hear this, but it is now impossible for you to go to jail for small possessions of marijuana — in Urbana. This past Monday the Urbana City Council passed an ordinance requiring that all small possessions be handled as city ordinance tickets punishable by a fine only. This means no jail time and no state charge. There has been little to no media coverage of the drafting of this ordinance and very little public discussion. The only online reference to this ordinance is a brief mention in the September 15th City Council Agenda=, as the 14th item. No minutes or any other information is provided on the website.
While decriminalization of marijuana has not been shown to lead to an increase in marijuana consumption, this ordinance does reflect a tolerance of marijuana use. Does this ordinance pave the way for wider acceptance of cannabis in the area, or is this just another case of “those crazy Urbana liberals” getting their way? And why hasn’t anyone reported this ordinance in any of the local papers? I for one would like to see a healthy public discussion of this issue — not more reasons to ignore it.
10 comments
Brad Miller
Definitely a step in the right direction in my opinion! Great article - thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Jessica
Interesting…how did you learn about this? Definitely couldn’t find any details about this elsewhere.
Joe
Actually, that link has an accompanying video if you click (one of) the links to the right.
It appears as though it has been deferred for a follow-up conversation and will be discussed again on the 29th.
rgriscom
@joe
Thanks for the info. It appears that my informant got things a bit mixed up, but I guess that’s what I get for not fully researching the situation. I’m glad people are interested enough to look into it for themselves. I’ll update my article as soon as possible to make it clear that the ordinance hasn’t been passed yet.
I also found the DI article about it from last week:
http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2008/09/09/News/New-Drug.Policy.Gives.Students.Second.Chance-3420839.shtml
They make it sound like it passed, too, so I guess I’m not the only one who had it wrong…
It will be interesting to see what they say next week!
CrazyUrbanite
I guess Urbana ~is~ capable of making good decisions! First, it keeps the cops on the street looking out for the real criminals. Second, it saves money by not having to book the caught users. Third, it makes more money than it costs, through fines. What’s not to like about it?
I’m sure that there will be those that are upset about the whole thing because they can no longer force their values on others that aren’t of a like mind….those crazy Conservatives!
Now, if only they’d legalize all drugs and tax the heck out of them, we could all have free health insurance (and probably a lot more)—- all paid for by those who can’t cope with the world we live in today!
james
Right On CrazyUrbanite!
If we could tax the millions of dollars being made in the un-regulated black market, we could among other things, build free activity centers were kids and teens could learn how to have fun without drugs.
Furthermore, if it were legal, taxed, and regulated, we as a people would determine who could buy, how much, and when, rather than the street corner drug dealer with questionable morals.
It’s too bad we don’t have any politions on the national level, who are electable, who are willing to be as brave as the Urbana City Council.
FreeMindTribe
I fully support this decision and hope that the Illinois Senate passes SB 2865 (legalize medical marijuana in Illinois) before it expires on January 13, 2009.
If you can, please take the time to research this bill and thank the sponsors for there efforts in pushing for this important law, and urge our senators to call SB 2865 to the Senate floor before Jan. 13, 2009.
It is a step in a good direction.
Velveeta_Buzzkill
Ummm, I don’t think it passed because my underaged son was caught with a small amount in 2009 and it was not treated as an ordinance violation.
hmm maybe quitting pot is the only solution. My son was also caught and got the slap.
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