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Chicago Loosening Grip on Possession of Small Amounts of Marijuana to Ease Budget Crunch

Chicago is looking to cut unnecessary spending and free up police and law enforcement by decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana. The thought is that police will be able to focus on and concentrate their resources on higher crimes. Under the new law set to be introduced next week, people caught with less than 10 grams of marijuana would instead face a $200 fine and up to 10 hours of community service. A pro-marijuana group reported that enforcing marijuana prohibition costs US taxpayers $10 billion and results in the arrests of 853,000 people a year.

Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey told reporters that, "It is not time to act tough on crime; it is (time) to be smart on crime. We need our resources spent somewhere else."

How should employers feel about this new proposed law when it comes to pre-employment criminal background screening and drug testing?
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