Former White House Drug Policy Advisor, Kevin Sabet, recently visited Neuqua Valley and spoke to students and parents about the growing movement to legalize marijuana.
Sabet served under the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations, and now argues that there are more options for marijuana policy than legalization or to continue throwing users in jail.
“We have more choices than that and we need to slow down and not imagine that those are our only two choices because if we choose this bright shiny new choice, in this case legalizing pot, it may be very difficult to ever go back,” said Sabet.
Options he’d like to see are decriminalization of the drug and rehabilitation programs implemented for dependent users.
Medical marijuana is legal in Illinois and in 2016 the governor signed a bill decriminalizing small amounts of the drug.
There’s currently a bill in a state senate committee that would legalize possession of recreational marijuana and allow for its sale.
Naperville News 17’s Blane Erwin reports.
