Chicago decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana

Reuters
Thursday, June 28, 2012

People caught with small amounts of marijuana in Chicago will be ticketed instead of arrested under a new ordinance passed by the city council on Wednesday, as the third largest U.S. city became the latest to support more lenient penalties for using the drug. The council voted 43-3 in favor of the measure, which was backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. "If you had been white and/or privileged, a small amount of marijuana had already been decriminalized, because the only people who have been arrested for these types of crime have been black and brown individuals," said Alderman Howard Brookins.