Marijuana criminals flow into Illinois prisons as president relaxes weed status

Under long-time federal law marijuana had been in the same class as heroin and LSD, but thanks to a decision by President Donald Trump, it will be grouped with drugs like Tylenol and steroids.

Marijuana is still not federally legal, and even though it is permitted in Illinois, the NBC Chicago investigative team has found dozens of people still imprisoned here for marijuana-related crimes.

With marijuana legal or decriminalized now in Illinois and most states you’d think the big police pot busts would be a thing of the past.

But NBC 5 Investigates a surprisingly high number of people who are locked up in Illinois prisons for cannabis crimes. Arrests and prosecutions for marijuana continue and there is a pot prison population growing each year from Chicago to Cairo. 

In Illinois you are unlikely to go to jail for simply consuming weed, unless you are caught using in public places, driving under the influence, possessing large amounts and selling it or consuming while underage.

The NBC Chicago investigative team has learned that dozens of people are imprisoned in Illinois directly for marijuana-related crimes.

Our exam of state prison data shows 94 men and women are currently locked up in state prisons for cannabis crimes; many for four or five year terms, but some for much longer.

One man is serving out a 24-year sentence for cannabis trafficking. In 2010 Antonio Sustaita was pulled over by downstate police and found to be carrying more than 2,500 grams of marijuana.

Despite marijuana being legalized during his sentence, the now 55-year old Sustaita remains behind bars at the Robinson Correctional Center. He is finishing up a 24-year marijuana sentence.

His projected parole date according to state records is five weeks from Friday after serving more than two decades.

It is that level of stiff punishment that Illinois State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-CHICAGO) says is concerning, and that Trump’s reclassification of marijuana Thursday does nothing to help.

“There should be a social justice move, a criminal justice reckoning, so that this is no longer a harm to communities like the south and west sides of Chicago,” Ford said. “The criminal justice system has impacted many Black and Brown people over the years in every state of America. And so if Trump is serious about doing something about cannabis, he would not just what you call it reclassified, but he would declassify and make sure that it is legal in America.”

To that point, state prison records show there are dozens of new prisoners being locked up in Illinois facilities each month to serve sentences for marijuana violations…in most cases for exceeding state laws that regulate how much marijuana you can have and where it can be consumed.

Some Republican legislators in Washington tried to encourage Trump not to loosen the reins on weed. They told the president that it will worsen America’s addiction crisis, make roads more dangerous, enable drug cartels and send the wrong message to children. But Trump ignored his party colleagues and signed the executive order anyway.