Grass Garners Just A Ticket In Chicago Heights

If you like smoking grass, Chicago Heights is your place to be. The south suburb's city council used its home rule authority to puff-puff-pass an ordinance that says anyone caught with 30 grams or less of marijuana will only be ticketed instead of facing criminal charges.

City attorney TJ Somer said addressing such offenses as ordinance violations rather than crimes helps "unclog" the criminal justice system while providing extra revenue for the city. That's because the city doesn't have to share revenue from fines with the Cook County Circuit Court system.