Cook County going to pot

Again, i got all excited – today’s Chicago Sun Times — plastered across the entire front page is a picture of someone smoking a joint with the headline screaming Cook County going to pot

If you‰re busted carrying a small amount of marijuana in portions of Cook County patrolled by the sheriff‰s police, you may get off with just a ticket.
In a move that caught the sheriff‰s office off guard, the county board on Tuesday voted to decriminalize possession of less than 10 grams of pot in unincorporated areas of Cook County. Those are the parts of the county not claimed by Chicago or its suburbs.

Oh. Still…

Leading the charge was Cmsr. Earlean Collins, a Democrat who admitted her grandson was busted for carrying a small amount of marijuana. She said arrests like that clog the jails.
‹They got my grandson…he had a half of joint in the car,Š Collins said. ‹They stopped him. They took him to the police station. They impounded his car and let him out the next morning. Why do that?
‹A lot of kids make a mistake, have a little marijuana, and they can avoid going to jail or court.Š

Yeah, it’s a bitch when it hits your friends and family, isn’t it?
The measure still needs to be signed by Count Board President Todd Stroger, who said:

‹I don‰t know,Š Stroger told CBS2. ‹I wasn‰t paying enough attention to it. I‰ll find out about it later. I can‰t comment on it.Š