Lincolwood and Morton Grove are among Illinois municipalities looking at current marijuana possession ordinances, using recent changes to state law to determine what tweaks should be made.
Lincolnwood officials last month adopted changes to align local ordinances regarding possession of small amounts of marijuana with the state legislation that Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law July 29.
The state law was designed to create uniformity to give towns guidelines on how to penalize people caught with only a few grams of marijuana, according to proponents of the legislation. But municipalities can still choose whether to charge someone under state statutes or the town’s respective local laws, based on the circumstances of the arrest and the individual’s criminal history.
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Under the new state law, anyone caught with 10 grams or less of marijuana could face a fine of $100 to $200, but municipalities have the option to increase the fines and impose other penalties – like community service hours or drug counseling. The state law also requires that citations issued for small amounts of marijuana possession be expunged from a person’s police record.
The changes made to Lincolnwood’s local ordinance will send more offenders through the administrative court hearing process versus having to appear at the county courthouse, according to Lincolnwood Police Chief Bob LaMantia.
“Our goal here is to charge first-time offenders in possession of under 30 grams with the local ordinance,” LaMantia said.
The fines issued in Lincolnwood’s administrative court are determined by the judge on a case-by-case basis, so they could be less or more than what a county judge would order.
“Fines can be up to $2,500, but they vary greatly from community to community and the administrative hearing officer will consider all the variables in each case,” LaMantia said. The hearing officer “wants to factor in whether or not they’re willing to do community service and counseling, the quantity of marijuana and the terms of the arrest.”
In Morton Grove, police and village officials are also drafting new local laws in line with the state’s marijuana guidelines, which will allow more offenders who would have otherwise been charged with a misdemeanor to start getting away with a citation.
The proposed language of the local ordinance increases the weight ceiling for marijuana citations, according to Cmdr. Paul Yaras of the Morton Grove Police Department.
Most of the fines offenders pay for a citation in Morton Grove would stay the same, according to a draft ordinance provided by the police department, but new fines may be added for offenders caught with larger amounts or with drug paraphernalia and marijuana together.
Police there are considering that stipulation because part of the new state law also decriminalizes paraphernalia possession, Yaras said.
The fines collected by Lincolnwood are put into a general fund the village delegates for the police department to cover court costs, according to police officials.
LaMantia and other supporters of the penalty changes for possessing small amounts of marijuana say the decriminalization will help reduce the number of people who have to appear in county court on less serious offenses.
“There’s more time to devote to each case at the administrative hearings,” LaMantia said. “It’s a relatively minor offense, but it’s still treated seriously enough so that each case gets the attention it deserves.”
Not every municipality is looking to amend its cannabis possession laws.
So far, Niles is sticking with its ordinance that calls for anyone caught with less than 10 grams of cannabis to pay a $50 fine at village hall and face possible corrective measures as assigned by an administrative court judge.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.