Lake Co. to mull new pot ordinance

Possession under 30 grams would be ticketable offense

The Lake County Council will consider Tuesday an ordinance that would make possessing under 30 grams of marijuana a ticketable offense, said Council President Ted Bilski, D-6th.

The decision comes as the county is figuring out how to comply with the state’s Criminal Rule 26, which relates to pretrial release, but also as Michigan and Illinois begin to legalize recreational marijuana, Bilski said.

“(The county) is trying to keep up with the challenges with recreational marijuana use being approved in Michigan and Illinois and controlling the jail population,” Bilski said.

Recreational marijuana sale and use is illegal in Indiana, but as of Dec. 1 the sale and possession of recreational marijuana for people 21 years old or older is legal in Michigan. The sale and possession of marijuana for adults will be legal in Illinois on Jan. 1, making it the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana, according to data through the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In Lake County, the potential ordinance violation would only apply to possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana, said Lake County attorney Ray Szarmach. Police officers will have discretion and can still charge someone with a criminal possession charge, he said.

“The reason we’re doing this is to have an option for the cop to give a ticket instead of throwing them in jail,” Szarmach said.

An ordinance violation is “funneling” a person through the “civil penalty system” rather than the “criminal penalty system,” said Daniel Orenstein, a visiting assistant professor of law at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law and expert on marijuana law and policy.

Under an ordinance violation, the person is ticketed and fined rather than arrested, similar to a traffic ticket, Orenstein said.

“This potential ordinance doesn’t make it legal,” Orenstein