Marijuana Policy Project

Sample call script

Once you’ve used the Chicago City Council’s website to find your alderman’s contact information, please call his/her office and share your support for decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana using the script below (I recommend reading through it once before making your call). Please remember to be polite and respectful on your call. We’re trying to persuade some members, and rude or hostile callers will only make our job more difficult. Also, you will likely be speaking to a staffer, not the actual alderman. If you get a voicemail, please leave a message. Thanks!

Hi, I’m a constituent. My name is ____(your name)___. I’m calling to let you know I strongly support the recently announced plan to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. We shouldn’t be wasting resources arresting and prosecuting people for using a substance safer than alcohol. Allowing cops to issue tickets instead of making arrests will keep our police officers on the street where they can protect our neighborhoods from actual criminals.

If you’re worried about what message this will send to our kids, you should know that 15 other states have decriminalized marijuana use, and rates have not gone up there. Numerous studies show that decriminalization has no effect on use rates or attitudes and beliefs about marijuana among young people.

Thanks. Can I count on your support?

Sample emails

Subject: I support marijuana decriminalization

Hello, I’m writing to tell you that I strongly support decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana and to ask that you do the same. Fifteen states and numerous cities around the country — including dozens in Illinois — have taken this sensible step, and their experience shows that marijuana use has not gone up, and nothing has changed concerning young peoples’ attitudes about marijuana. In fact, Mississippi and Nebraska have removed the possibility of jail time for marijuana possession, and their use rates are among the lowest in the nation.

Not only that, but by allowing officers to write tickets instead of making arrests, we can better protect our communities from violent crime and real threats to public safety. Did you know that it takes four officers — two arresting and two transporting officers — to make and process a marijuana arrest? Even if it only takes an hour, that’s four man hours of police time that could be spent investigating and preventing real crimes.

Thanks for your consideration, and please let me know where you stand.

Subject 2: Cite, don’t arrest, marijuana users

I’m really excited to see that Mayor Emanuel is finally on board with the marijuana decriminalization proposal, and I hope the full council approves it soon. I read in the article about the announcement that last year there were 18,298 arrests for possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana and that each case involves approximately four officers — two arresting and two transporting officers. That’s ridiculous. It takes a long time to search suspects, handcuff and transport them, fingerprint and book them, fill out a report, and bag the evidence, but even assuming it can be done in an hour, that’s almost 80,000 man hours lost. That’s time that could be spent on patrol doing real police work.

I’ve also read that some people are concerned about what message this would send to children. The only message this would send is money isn’t infinite, so we should prioritize carefully. There’s no evidence that youth marijuana use will go up. In fact, here’s a quote from a study by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research on the impact of marijuana decriminalization laws: "Overall, the preponderance of the evidence which we have gathered and examined points to the conclusion that decriminalization has had virtually no effect either on the marijuana use or on related attitudes and beliefs about marijuana use among American young people. The data show no evidence of any increase, relative to the control states, in the proportion of the age group who ever tried marijuana. In fact, both groups of experimental states showed a small, cumulative net decline in annual prevalence after decriminalization."

Science and common sense says this is a smart idea. Please let me know where you stand.