Chicago Heroin v. The return of Chinky

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^^^ lol @ "what you eees" SS1...Shiit u post say watch u b...n shit nigga... Only assertive butchery of the English dialect, will earn you true comradery in certain circles. LOL. The job prospects are looking optimistic. Don't really want to talk about it too much cause, you might be my future boss! LOL! Hey, as live, I find that's an extremely small world. The fucking people that I run into is unreal! I was riding my bike one time on Michigan av.(back when we used to at Grand/May[good days]) and accidently, kind of bumped this lady on the street. As she turned around, I realized that it was one of the realtors from the office that my girl worked at. She only saw me a coule of times in the past but didn't remember me enough to recognize me in fast passing. Her office was in Glenview and she very seldom went downtown. And out of that sea of people I bumped into her! That's crazy...And that's just one of many.
I don't know how I got on that tangent...Oh yeah, it's a small world.
Peace man. And thanks again for the encouraging words man. You were right shit somehow always works out.
 
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Things may get a whole lot less hot on the west side soon, for better or for worse:

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/544/article/p2p-81470689/
I'm unable to read it, seeing as you need to pay .99 for Trib membership. What does it say? This girl today, was telling me they are talking about decriminalizing heroin, because it's more of a social problem, rather than criminal. She was not very descript and if that's true, I'm surprised I have not heard about this prior to hearing it from a person that doesn't even do dope. I can't find anything on the web that pertains to this.
 
They must have just posted it and hadn't upgraded it to membership status when I saw it. We actually don't have the membership, and now I get that bullshit too when I click on it. But my trick with the tribs membership shit (their web ed. sucks) is to copy the headline, google it and find the same story either posted in one of their other papers or discover a "back way in" link. Ha- I just did it and it works like a charm. Second link on Googles leads right back to the story. So here's the text:
Mayor's drug plan pitch greeted with skepticism

By Bill Ruthhart, John Byrne and Dahleen Glanton
9:28 pm, September 23, 2014
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday started to sell his idea of loosening Illinois drug laws for possession of illegal substances like marijuana, heroin and cocaine, but some of those he has to convince said they're skeptical because he'll want tougher gun laws in return.

The reception to Emanuel's plan to decriminalize marijuana statewide and reduce minor drug possession to a misdemeanor illustrated the difficult slog the mayor faces as he tries to secure a signature victory on violent crime, an issue that's been at the forefront of his tenure.

The re-election-seeking mayor has tried to get state lawmakers to require mandatory prison sentences for illegal gun possession, which he says would help crack down on the city's continued gun violence. But that effort stalled nearly a year ago amid opposition from African-American legislators opposed to stricter gun sentences.

Now Emanuel is holding out the incentive of ensuring that people caught with 1 gram or less of any controlled substance won't be hit with a felony charge to try to get enough support to pass the gun sentencing bill. Emanuel also would expand Chicago's marijuana ticketing law statewide, allowing police to issue tickets of $250 to $500 for someone caught with up to 15 grams of pot — the equivalent of about 25 cigarette-sized joints.

The idea is to free up police officers to focus on violent crime and save the expense of keeping those charged with low-level drug possession in jail.

"It's not just about saving taxpayer dollars, it's also about saving nonviolent offenders from a lifetime spent in and out of the criminal justice system," Emanuel said. "A felony conviction can slam the door on someone's future and make it harder to go to school, apply for financial aid and find housing. There are times when a felony conviction is no doubt warranted, but we have to ask ourselves whether it's too high a price for using drugs."

The approach is in line with a national trend of freeing up prison space and police resources to deal with more violent offenders, experts said. While only Colorado and Washington have voted to decriminalize and legalize marijuana for recreational use, other cities and states are considering penalty reductions similar to what Emanuel has proposed. In November, drug policy reform questions will appear on the ballot in seven states and at least 17 municipalities.

"It's part of an enormous and growing momentum across the country to control marijuana in a different way, by shifting from policies that primarily criminalize enormous numbers of young people of color in favor of policies that focus on high-level manufacture and distribution," said Stephen Gutwillig, deputy executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in New York.

Not everyone was eager to back the mayor's new proposal. A state law enforcement group lined up against the plan, and state lawmakers wary of his push for mandatory sentences for gun possession voiced concern.

During a tense, 20-minute exchange at a Tuesday hearing in Chicago, state Rep. Ken Dunkin, chairman of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, pressed Emanuel on what he viewed as the administration's failure to combat violent crime. Dunkin, D-Chicago, sought to pin down the mayor on whether he would support weakening drug possession sentences only in exchange for mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes.

"If legislation does not have mandatory minimums, as you and the superintendent have advocated, would you be in favor of supporting it?" asked Dunkin, who derailed Emanuel's gun crime bill last year in the House with a rare procedural motion.

"Details matter. I would look at the whole bill," the mayor responded. "The first step, though, is dealing with the narcotics piece. I do want to see a focus on the violent crimes in the city of Chicago, but I can't answer a question about hypotheticals."

Dunkin noted that the House-Senate Joint Criminal Justice Reform Committee, which held Tuesday's hearing, was created as a compromise after Emanuel's tougher gun sentences bill failed. Rep. Mike Zalewski, D-Riverside, who sponsored Emanuel's bill last year, chairs the reform committee.

Zalewski said he did not believe Emanuel's prior push for mandatory minimum sentences for illegal gun possession could pass in Springfield without a provision to also loosen drug possession penalties.

"I think it would be unwise for us to propose any bill that doesn't have balance, which is drugs and tougher penalties for certain violent offenses," he said. "I don't think anything short of that can pass."

Another member of the panel, state Sen. Kwame Raoul, said he has opposed Emanuel's push for mandatory minimum sentences for illegal gun possession because he does not believe the discretion of a judge should be removed. The Democratic lawmaker from Chicago said someone caught carrying an illegal gun for protection in a crime-ridden neighborhood should not be punished the same as a gang member looking to shoot someone.

Raoul said he thinks Emanuel's support on lesser drug possession penalties is "contingent on him getting some sort of policy to deal with violence, yes." But, he added, "I don't think he's hellbent on mandatory minimums. I think it's about trying to do something about violence."

But Dunkin insisted Emanuel simply was adopting old ideas he said have been batted around Springfield. He said the mayor's "political grandstanding" was aimed at scoring him political points and drawing attention away from his push for mandatory minimum sentences.

"It's political acrobatics. There was nothing new," Dunkin said. "I guess he sends out a press release, we buy it and it gets covered, but what he's talking about is so 4 or 5 years old right now."

While Emanuel did not mention his previous proposal for stiffer illegal gun possession penalties Tuesday, he pitched marijuana tickets and drug possession misdemeanors as a more efficient way to deal with minor crimes.

He cited Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's figure that it costs taxpayers $143 a day to house inmates at the jail and said the vast majority of low-level narcotics cases don't result in convictions.

Emanuel also portrayed Chicago's marijuana ticketing program as a success, after acknowledging that the city initially had a disparity with minorities receiving fewer tickets and more arrests for pot possession. City Hall released numbers showing that gap has been closed this year.

The mayor said many of those minority arrests were because the offender was not able to present an ID, and Police Department policy required an arrest as a result. That requirement has since been loosened, and those arrested without an ID can simply give the officer their name and information, he said.

While police Superintendent Garry McCarthy backed Emanuel's proposal as a common-sense measure, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police said it could create confusion because the use, manufacture and distribution of marijuana remains illegal under federal law. And leaving it up to an officer to decide whether to issue a ticket or to arrest someone in possession of marijuana could result in inconsistent application of the law, said Laimutis Nargelenas, a lobbyist for the group.

"One of the biggest concerns we have as police chiefs is you have to look at that and be sure the discretion used by the officer is done properly," Nargelenas said. "You don't want to see minorities charged on state charges and others given the city ordinance violation. We have to make sure officers are utilizing that properly."

Ald. Howard Brookins Jr., 21st, shared that concern, saying equal enforcement clearly has not been the case in Chicago, where he's heard complaints about the double standard police have for minorities. "Many of my clients feel like they never get the benefit of that discretion," he said.

Still, Brookins, chairman of the City Council's black caucus and a practicing criminal defense attorney, said Emanuel's proposed changes make some sense.

"I do applaud the effort, because we have people getting caught up (in the criminal justice system) over dime bags, and then that hangs over them for the rest of their lives," he said, referring to small packages of an illicit drug sold for a low price.

Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th, said sparing people from the lifelong stigma of a felony conviction for a drug arrest would give them a second chance.

"You have some people who make a mistake, and the way the laws are now, it leaves them trapped and hopeless," she said. "They end up doing something desperate. If it was a misdemeanor, they would have better chances at a job and an education, some way to better themselves."

Like Brookins, Mitts said she has gotten complaints that Chicago police still are arresting too many African-Americans rather than handing out tickets for petty marijuana offenses. Reflecting the difficult choices elected officials face in many violent parts of the city where residents want their streets safer, the veteran alderman said she is loath to tell Police Department brass to stop putting so many people behind bars.

"(Arrests) are a tool the police have to deal with the situation," Mitts said. "I don't want to see the law applied unfairly to people in my ward, see people locked up for petty stuff, but at the same time I'm inundated with crime and gangs. On the one hand I'm asking (the police) to help me with the crime, and on the other hand I'm saying don't lock them up? That's a tough situation."

Toward the end of his testimony to lawmakers Tuesday, the centrist Emanuel offered a liberal take on the issue.

"I actually believe we should change our sentencing policy to make it in line with our values," said Emanuel, who could face opposition from the political left in the late February mayoral election. "It's time to free up our resources for the truly violent offenders who pose a bigger threat to the safety of our communities and neighborhoods."

(I hope this isn't too long. That trick always works around the Trib's bullshit.)
 
^Chisleeper Thanks for the post, gonna have to re-read it tomm. as I'm falling asleep right now. But at a brief glance this completely stinks of financial gain for the city...But it can work in our favor
 
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That sounds like a good idea to me!!! Why punish the guy with a dope habit because of a few poor lifestyle choices when dude isn't really a threat to anyone but himself? I have always thought that drug posession laws were way too stiff. Back in 2002 I got caught with one single pill of exstacy and got slappedal with a class 4 felony (#1 of now 5). Bull shit if you ask me. But a danm good idea to open up the very crowded jail/prison system a bit for people that actually deserve to be there. Did you know that something like 80% of people in prison are in there for some type of drug activity? Don't quote me on that figure but I remember reading it some where at some point.
 
The west side will remain hot. Penalties will be reduced to different charges. Them boys will still arrest you always have always will. Ive been pulled up on the ss and them boys told me to just leave. And they only got on bag out of my 5 jabs fuckers haha
 
I honestly don't know what good it will do for people with an already existing felony. (which a large # of heroin users already have[like myself]) As far as the west side being less hot, I don't think that (even if this law came to fruition) will have any significant impact, there would be a stronger push for arresting people like us, because now, you have federally mandated fines, that some will be able to pay, others won't. Which will subsequently put them in jail on an outstanding. So I'm not sure if it will actually reduce the jail population. (The best case scenario they will catch a few nods before going back)There will be a lot of people on the street unable to pay those high fines and inevitably wind up up in jail anyway.
Yeah, SS1, I heard the percentage is something like 60%, which is still an astronomical number...Home of the free and all...
Fuck drug laws PERIOD. I'm still trying to understand how an overseeing entity is qualified to determine what is best for my social well-being and my body.
 
I'm thinking it might be a way of slipping in a "Hamsterdam" situation in Chicago. Like Mexico and other countries have decriminalized small quantities of narcotics. This as a trade off for stricter gun control laws in Chicago, as the gun nut lobby is on the rise in IL. Will they still kidnap your car? That's the big money-maker for the city, or was. Trying to stuff more people into Cook County jail is loosing them cash. The courts are not sympathetic to small quantity arrests - both of mine were dismissed after drug school and the city essentially made no money from my cases. But they did make a fortune off my two car seizures, and the impound kangaroo court the city runs is all their own. They might actually make more from fines than from locking people up for a few days and then loosing those small cases in court.

It'll seem to black voters that there's a let-up on locking away young black men, but in reality it'll be a more cost efficient way of slapping suburban users on the wrist. If it goes anywhere. But it could signal a more relaxed attitude from the cops on the street without actually becoming a law.
 
^^^"they did make a fortune off my two car seizures, " Thata's why I very seldom drive to cop. I know it's inconvenient but...I went through that shit once. Never again.
"But it could signal a more relaxed attitude from the cops on the street without actually becoming a law." Pehaps. One can only hope.
"They might actually make more from fines than from locking people up for a few days and then loosing those small cases in court." By that analogy dude, the police presence will most likely become more oppressive, seeing as the pigs will be "motivated" and "persuaded" to generate more revenue through systematic ticketing.
The amounts of narcotics that they are considering passable(1g) is not that common with the average shopper, especially since it's weighed with the baggie. A jab is probably way more than a gram(baggie included).
But I guess baby steps are a start man.
I'm done typing. I'm running late for my yacht club meeting...If I'm late, they will push me to the back of the line for potential overachiever of the year award.
Be safe folks.
 
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Ok this has nothing to do with anything but i saw someone was in Orland. I'm from the south burbs myself (park forest). Anyone close to me? Need some friends out here. Can't just hang with the hubby and kid and play video games.
 
Ok this has nothing to do with anything but i saw someone was in Orland. I'm from the south burbs myself (park forest). Anyone close to me? Need some friends out here. Can't just hang with the hubby and kid and play video games.
...Is your husband a big man? I'll come hang with you... if you don't mind that I'm a paranoid schitsophrenic, with pshychotic tendencies, that also happens to be and alhoholic and a drug user...I'm taking a variety of meds that seem to be improving my condition(with occasional flare ups, of course)if it's any consolation, I'm obstaining at the moment. You let me know. OK? Thanks, hope to hear from you soon.
Shiiit... this is better than Craigslist propagated slut culture!
 
Lol. He's not the one you should be afraid of...and obviously I didn't mean it as a cl proposition. But I do have a good sense of humor so no mean response from me. Just looking for like minded ppl to hang out with. I was only hoping to find someone to get high and chill with but whatever ' s clever.
 
...I'm getting that warmnfuzzy feeling...right before the dope makes me throw up. If you are serious fuzzy, I'm literally petrified for your and your kid(s) safety. Not saying that there aren't good, honest people in the heroin thread but you blatantly/blindly asking for companionship on a heroin thread is just stupid and irresponsible. Not even the Heroin Thread but anything of the like.
I pray you are fucking trolling and you don't have a pattern of this type of behavior. If you're not, you deserve what you get...Your kid(s) don't.
 
Really? Because I'm going to have my son with me? And I never said hang out at my house. You are seriously blowing this out of proportion and assuming things you shouldn't. I wasn't inviting people into my home or anything like that. But thanks for making this a totally unpleasant experience. Have a great evening.
 
...Without getting into philosophical abstract thinking, I see a married woman(with a kid) soliciting "friendship" with strangers on the internet. I never implied that you have to "have your kids with" you in order to put them in danger of losing their mother...I have an idea for you. Get dressed like a slut, go to the bar, get drunk and solicit some strangers to go "hang out" with, cause it would be the equivalent of this.
Good luck with your slut culture promotion/campaign, I hope somebody bites.
You have a good evening as well...Be careful.
PS The random encounters should be over the day you got married and had a child.
 
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