New Marijuana Breathalyzer is a Dud
But That Doesn’t Stop Cops From Using It
As marijuana is rapidly being legalized throughout the United States, state, county, and city law and police forces are likewise in a mad dash to figure out how to maintain their arrest, conviction and incarceration rates, which have heretofore heavily relied on busting people for everything from paraphernalia, twigs and seeds, to pounds, to tons of the stuff. To date, 33 states have legalized marijuana in some form.
What’s a police state to do?
In Illinois, recreational use, possession and sale of the demon weed becomes perfectly legal on January 1 of next year. Medical marijuana has been legal for some time here, and possession of less than an ounce has also been basically decriminalized. But that hasn’t stopped cops from hassling and harassing, and yes, arresting, marijuana possessors and users and sellers on the streets of Chicago — especially the South and West Side streets of Chicago, where most black Chicagoans live. This means Chicago will become the second largest city in the country where marijuana is legal. (Los Angeles beat us by a few months, but California is still arguing over what it all means).
But, again, now that the whole enchilada will soon become a non-crime, what are cops supposed to do? Busting…
