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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
SUPPORTING HB2353 AND SB316 TO LEGALIZE AND REGULATE CANNABIS USE FOR ADULTS IN ILLINOIS
WHEREAS, in 2000, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) attempted to restate the goals of the "War on Drugs": "to educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs as well as alcohol and tobacco; to increase the safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related crime and violence; to reduce health and social costs to the public of illegal drugs use; to shield America's air, land, and sea frontiers from the drug threat; and to break foreign and domestic drug sources of supply"; and
WHEREAS, despite spending more than $1 Trillion over the last 40 years, the efforts of the "War on Drugs", the health and social costs of drugs increase every year, drugs are no less available than before, and treatment is not available to the vast majority of people who need it; and
WHEREAS, there have been 1 million arrests for misdemeanor marijuana possession in the State of Illinois from 1975 to 2009 and in 2007, Illinois ranked sixth in the nation in per-capita marijuana arrest rates, representing 58 percent of all drug arrests in the state; and
WHEREAS, mirroring national trends, despite similar use rates among minorities and Caucasians throughout Illinois, non-whites are arrested at a higher rate than whites relative to their representation in the general population. Arrest data from 2007 reveals that racial disproportionality in drug arrests occurred in 62 of the 102 counties in Illinois, including urban, suburban, and rural areas and that most of the disproportionality in Illinois drug laws was related to drug possession charges, which accounted for nearly 75 percent of felony drug arrests across the state; and
WHEREAS, before marijuana procession was decriminalized, Chicago police made approximately 23,000 arrests a year for marijuana possession, an astounding 97 percent of charges involving 2.5 grams or less were dis...
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