Kara Mercer

I believe marijuana possession should be decriminalized, but with limitations.

Alcohol and tobacco are drugs that are sold for recreation, but they come with limitations. Marijuana should be no exception. Recreational drugs are only made available to adults. The same standards would need to be in place if marijuana were decriminalized.

“The FDA has not approved marijuana as a safe and effective drug for any indication,” according to the FDA website. There has not been enough research done on the drug’s effects for it to be used as a medicine.

If marijuana were legalized, there would be more research, which could find more medical benefits; however people are still going to smoke marijuana if it is not decriminalized.

Many people continue to use marijuana recreationally. 52.6 percent of people ages 18 to 25 have used marijuana in their lifetime, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

If marijuana were legalized, the mystery and allure that may come from using marijuana illegally could go away.

Faith Mellenthin

Decriminalizing marijuana possession would be beneficial because it would still maintain regulation on substance usage.

The amount of money being used to incarcerate those arrested for marijuana possession is not worth it when compared to other options. According to HB0218, which would classify possession of more than 100 grams a felony, decriminalization would result in $29 million in potential cost savings over the first 10 years after enactment.

As someone who lives near campus, I see it as a bad idea to make cannabis completely legal. This is not the place for recreational marijuana to expose itself. There are too many stressed out young adults who are figuring out how to balance life, school and the social world. I would also worry about driving on our very crowded campus becoming even more dangerous.

It would be smarter to simply ticket those for possession instead of arresting offenders. It would need to be established how much a ticket would be for possession and what calls for harsher punishment. Millions of dollars would be saved, and the system may gain money seeing as this is a very common crime. I don’t know how much taxing marijuana would benefit our economy, but decriminalizing would save quite a chunk of cash.

Kaylyn Zielinski

Marijuana possession should be decriminalized, but there would be some downsides.

The decriminalization of marijuana would decrease the amount of people already in jail for possessing little amounts of it, and it would save the state money.

But bills proposing the decriminalization of marijuana don’t legalize it; they just make the punishment for possessing small amounts of marijuana less severe. SB0753 and HB0218 would reclassify possession amounts for a felony. Possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana would result in fines rather than jail time.

These bills would equate the punishment of possessing small amounts of marijuana to a slap on the wrist. Lessening punishments would be like getting a speeding ticket. While there are some people who don’t speed after getting their first speeding ticket, there are others who learn how to avoid getting caught; the same could go for marijuana. People wouldn’t be scared to get caught with a little marijuana because they know they won’t get into too much trouble.

A better option would be to regulate and tax it as proposed in HB4276 by Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago). This would allow people to sell, possess and consume marijuana. This would also increase state revenue.