Daley said the proposal would free up police officers' time, since 99 percent of possession cases are dismissed.

"If 99 percent of the cases are all thrown out, and you have a police officer going -- why? Why do we arrest the individual, seize the marijuana, go to court and they're all thrown out? It costs you a lot of money for that. It costs you a lot of money for police officers to go to court," said Daley.

The idea to reduce marijuana possession penalties to a fine came from Sgt. Tom Donegan of the Wentworth District. He suggested fines of $250 for those caught with 10 grams of marijuana, and $1,000 for 20 to 30 grams, instead of criminal charges.

Daley insisted that such a shift would not be a step towards decriminalization. "It's decriminalized now," the mayor said. "They throw all the cases out. It doesn't mean anything. You just show up to court. Another case goes out. That's all it is. There's nothing there. They don't even show up -- the offenders. It doesn't mean anything."

Daley added, "Sometimes, a fine is worse than being thrown out of court."

The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), however, said that reducing the charge to a fine could send the wrong message. "It's an issue of moral or societal acceptance whether to do that," said Mark Donahue, president of the FOP. "Are we lessening the offense? It may appear to be so by ticketing instead of making physical arrests. It could be sending an improper message to society that we're not taking these offenses as seriously as we have in the past."

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by Jay on 07 May 08 12:29 AM EDT

"As seriously as we have in the past." Are you kidding me? Marijuana didn't even become federally until 1937.

Your Turn! Post a public comment (read guidelines):

Name:
Comment: (limit 200 words)
Enter this word (help):	Change

GUIDELINES: 
To keep this feature useful for all, please:

1. Keep it clean, courteous, and on-topic. Comments are meant for thoughtful discussion of the article published above.
   
   
2. Do not post promotional links to organizations, products or services, or personal requests for assistance (get help).
   
   
3. Proof your comments carefully, use good spelling and punctuation, and don't use ALL CAPS. Comments are published immediately and cannot be edited.

Deceptive, slanderous and commercially-motivated posts are prohibited. We reserve the right to remove comments not conforming to these guidelines. (Report a comment).

Have questions or feedback? Contact us.