- Michael Schmidt/Sun-Times
- Mayor Emanuel answers questions Wednesday at a press conference outside the Shedd Aquarium.
Illinois should follow Chicago’s example and ease up on marijuana, Mayor Emanuel told a General Assembly committee Tuesday. That part of his testimony got the lion’s share of media attention, but the mayor’s other drug proposal was more significant.
But whatever the motive, the proposal is a welcome one. Illinois is stingy on social service but extravagant on prosecuting drug addicts. Since 2006, $778 million has been spent to jail defendants charged with the lowest-level controlled substance violations while their cases were pending, according to calculations by the Chicago Reporter‘s Angela Caputo. That was the tab not statewide, but just here in Cook County. Caputo considered all Class 4 felony defendants—possession up to 15 grams—but many of these cases are gram or less, she says. And the $778 million is only for pretrial jailing; it doesn’t include the toll for arresting, prosecuting, defending, judging, and, for those convicted, monitoring on probation or imprisoning.
Will they show some fortitude now, just because Chicago’s mayor wants them to?
