78 million and counting.

In this article, many different aspects of how the law cracks down on pot in Cook County(more specifically Chicago) is assessed. According to the article it costs an overall 78 million dollars when everything is totaled up which is only involving the possession of marijuana. This amount can be added to 10 million more dollars if you consider the growing and selling marijuana. Throughout the next couple months many will review the budget for 2012. With this 78 million dollar cost playing a factor, many people will be laid off, increase in taxes, and even some departments that were considered untouchable when dealing with money will take a hit.This cost has county commissioner John Fritchey wondering about legalization. Fritchey does mention that the only way for legalization to be considered is if the people want it. For the past several years there have been around 23,000 marijuana related arrests which is the same amount as battery and assault combined. Marijuana related arrests are also the leading cause of arrests by the Chicago Police Department. Along with that it takes, on a good day, two hours to process one arrest. This is a waste of time because most offenders are able to be released on bond, and if taken to jail it would waste even more time. All marijuana possession charges add up to around 84,000 hours of work per year. As if that wasn't enough, court case involved with marijuana possession costs at least $2,500 just to be opened. The problem with this is that 9 out of 10 of the cases end up dismissed. Chicago police are also payed at least two hours of overtime pay no matter how quick the case is. All the work with arrests ends up to about 70 million in costs per year. The extra 8 million is the cost of incarceration for those who are put in jail based on possession charges.

This article caught my attention because it is about Chicago as well as being a controversial topic in marijuana. I like this article because it talks about how the cost of arrests with marijuana possession is detrimental to the city as well as the county. I like this article because, I think, at least someone in some way has an encountered marijuana before. It is also in many television shows and movies.

I think that this argument is playing on the fact that legalizing marijuana can help the city and the county in many ways. With all of the extra money being thrown back into the system because it wasn't needed for marijuana arrests there will be money for more money to save programs and lower taxes. Another way this helps is that the police will be able to spend time on more dangerous criminals and other criminal activity.