11 Ticketed Under City's New Pot Ordinance

By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 7, 2012 2:15PM

The city’s new pot ticketing ordinance is already providing expected returns. The Sun-Times reports 11 people have been issued “administrative notices of ordinance violations” since the ordinance went into effect over the weekend.

Ronald Crawley of East Beverly has the dubious honor of being the first person to be ticketed for holding. Crawley was in his girlfriend’s car Saturday, which was stopped for having a blown headlight, when police spotted a blunt in the ashtray. Crawley and police spent 90 minutes at the Morgan Park police station processing the paperwork, which Crawley said was “better than spending a night in jail.” He also indicated to the Sun-Times he has no idea what the ticket will cost.

No one was ticketed for holding at Lollapalooza, which we expected since the festival was on Park District property and therefore exempt from the ordinance. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and supporters of the ordinance championed that it would allow cops to stay on the streets instead of arresting people for low level pot busts. But isn’t spending 90 minutes filing paperwork still removing police from their beat?