(Newswire.net — September 26, 2014) –According to the Chicago Tribune, during Rahm’s appearance this week before the Illinois General Assembly, the Windy City leader spoke in support of decriminalizing pot possession across the Prairie State, and a potential lift on the state’s pot prohibition.
In his testimony, Rahm has told lawmakers that the state should decriminalize marijuana and reduce the punishment for people caught in possession of one gram or less to a misdemeanor.
“It’s time, in my view, to free up our criminal justice system to address our real public safety challenges and build on the progress that has been made,” Raham said, according to the Tribune.
Only two states — Washington and Colorado — currently allow adults to enjoy recreational weed, but locales across the United States are increasingly authorizing medical marijuana programs that let patients enjoy pot with a valid doctor’s prescription. Twenty-three states across the US have medical marijuana programs as of June, and voters in Washington, DC recently approved a measure that drastically reduces the fines levied at persons caught with small amounts of pot.
By decriminalizing marijuana, the mayor continued, the state would “change not just the criminal system and the fact that we’ll save time and money,” but “will change people’s lives.”
“Some who are walking around with a felony, have their employment prospects, their job prospects, and their enitre lives are on a different trajectory than if they had a misdemeanor associated with them,” Rahm said.
“It doesn’t make sense that one arrest for a very small amount of a controlled substance can lead to a lifetime of struggles, sending people in and out of prison and putting up barriers to getting a job or finding a place to live. We need action from Springfield,” he added, in reference to the state capital.
According to a study published by the Roosevelt University in Illinois earlier this year, officers with the Chicago Police Department spent upwards of 63,000 hours in 2013 issuing misdemeanor arrests for pot possession.
Illinois last year became the twentieth state in the US to legalize medicinal marijuana and has since been joined by three others.