[Peace-discuss] Urbana City Council Passes Marijuana Ordinance 7-0

[Brian Dolinar]

On Monday night, October 6, 2008, Urbana City Council passed an ordinance
giving police officers the discretion to hand out $200 tickets for
first-time offenders caught with less than 10 grams of marijuana (30 grams
is an ounce - and a felony).

Such an ordinance is already on the books in Champaign.

A sticking point in the new policy was whether discretion would be mandated
in attempt to prevent racial preferences.
The worry is that, for example, students "with a future" would get a ticket
for possession, while local black youth presumably "going nowhere" would go
to jail.
No such written policy was put on paper.

Urbana City Council members Brandon Bowersox and David Gehrig said they
would track statistics in the coming year to see if the ordinance is being
fairly applied.

BD

-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com
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