THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JULY 2, 2012
PAGE 15
DRUGS
Chicago pot fines replace arrests
ASSOCIATED PRESS
But aldermen still debated about two hours before passing the ordinance, with many saying they were not comfortable with a measure that could be seen as sending a message that they are condoning drug use. Others said they needed to act to protect an increasingly nervous city where homicides are up 38 percent this year.
CHICAGO — Chicago's City Council on June 27 passed an ordinance that allows police to ticket people found with small amounts of marijuana instead of arresting them.
The 43-3 vote in favor of the ordinance, which allows officers to write a ticket for $250 to $500 for possessing as much as 15 grams of marijuana or about 15 marijuana cigarettes, was expected after a council committee approved the measure 13-1 last week.
"The calls I get at 2 o'clock in the morning are not about marijuana possession, they're about someone who's been shot in my ward," Alderman Will
Burns said before the council voted Wednesday. "I want those calls to cease and the way we do that is to make sure our police are fighting violent crime."
Police Superintendant Garry McCarthy said in a statement earlier this month that the arrests of more than 18,000 people for misdemeanor possession of 10 grams or less of marijuana "tied up more than 45,000 police hours" and that the "new ordinance nearly cuts that time in half."
Of the 8,625 misdemeanor marijuana cases between 2006 and 2010 in Cook County, about 87 percent were dismissed, according to the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court.
Alderman Danny Solis focused much of his argument on his estimate that the tickets given for marijuana possession would bring in as much as $7 million a year in revenue to the financially strapped city.
Solis said cutting the time that officers spend making those arrests adds up to 2,500 more "police days" that officers will be on the street.
TOUR OF LAWRENCE
JESSICA JANASZ/KANSAN
Competitors in Category 5 of the Free State Brewery Downtown Criterium Race in the The 2012 Tour of Lawrence make their last lap on Massachusetts street Sunday afternoon during the last of the three day event. The Tour took place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with competitors of every age in downtown Lawrence as well as on campus. Winners received medals as well as various gift certificates, and specific results in all categories can be found at www.TourOfLawrence.com.
ALCOHOL
Happy hour legal again in Kansas
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Happy hour is legal once again in Kansas, and while not every bar owner has immediate plans to start offering limited-time drink specials, many are pleased they'll stop losing business to neighboring states like Missouri.
The end of the happy-hour ban instituted by Kansas in 1985 is among numerous liquor law changes taking effect Sunday under legislation signed by Gov. Sam Brownback in late May.
Others include letting certain wineries sell and serve their products on their premises and permitting retailers such as grocery and liquor stores to offer free samples and hold wine and beer tastings — although grocery stores still cannot sell wine and hard liquor, The Kansas City Star reported Saturday.
The 1985 ban on happy hour technically prohibited bars and restaurants
from changing drink prices during the day. Lawmakers were concerned the promotions led to drunken driving by encouraging patrons to consume too much, too quickly, especially in the traditional after-work happy hour period.
But the ban had some perhaps unforeseen consequences. Many owners responded by offering daylong specials, such as well drinks for $2.50 or bottles of beer for $2. And along the state's eastern border, patrons could simply head to the nearest Missouri bar offering happy hour.
Adam Mills, president and chief executive officer of the Wichita-based Kansas Restaurant & Hospitality Association, called the changes in the liquor laws "a big victory" for Kansas establishments.
"Now they can compete on an even playing field with Missouri businesses," Mills said.