Weed Laws in Illinois set to Lighten Up Some More

Legislation is headed toward not being so hard on those caught with small amounts of marijuana. (PHOTO: Laugh Party)

If an Illinois house bill passes soon, it will no longer be a criminal offense to possess less than 30 grams of pot. They say that’s enough for about ten joints, but I don’t know. It depends on the grain of the herb. Also, the size of the joints matter. Are you rolling with 1.5’s or 1.0’s?

Whatever the case, instead of going to jail for getting caught with weed, one would get a ticket and a $100 fine. Once the fine is paid, then the ticket will be wiped away.

A “regulatory offense” would be created which would prohibit arrest or jail time, limit fines to $100, and require the ticket to be removed from a person’s record after the fine is paid.

“What we are saying is let’s just wipe the slate clean,” said Chris Lindsey, Marijuana Policy Project. “Let law enforcement focus on serious crime where people get hurt and not waste resources on something most Americans now want taxed and regulated.” (ABC 7News)

This makes sense. Come to think of it, I’ve witnessed cops act unreasonable before, but it was never over weed. The most I’ve ever seen five-O do about a small amount of weed was to confiscate it, if anything. Most of the time they would just say, “Put that out.”

But that was forever ago. Who knows what the fuzz does nowadays in these matters.

Once again, “That’s one small step for man. Another giant leap for the weed man.”