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Rahm Passes on Karen Lewis' Call for Marijuana Legalization

By Ted Cox | September 24, 2014 2:26pm
 Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, "I do not think you should balance the budget by promoting recreational smoking of pot."
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, "I do not think you should balance the budget by promoting recreational smoking of pot."
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

SOUTH LOOP — Mayor Rahm Emanuel took a pass Wednesday on a call to legalize marijuana in order to boost tax revenues.

"I do not think you should balance the budget by promoting recreational smoking of pot," Emanuel said Wednesday in a news conference at the Shedd Aquarium.

The mayor was responding Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis' support for legalization and taxation of marijuana, as in Colorado. Lewis is a possible opponent of Emanuel's in the 2015 mayoral election.

"We need to tax it," Lewis said Tuesday. "It's an important revenue source."

The mayor on Tuesday recommended statewide decriminalization of marijuana by allowing police officers to opt for ticketing rather than arrests for "low-level offenses" of drug possession. Yet he pulled up short of legalization Wednesday.

Lewis has said repeatedly she is "seriously considering" a run against Emanuel in next year's municipal elections, but thus far has not formally declared herself a mayoral candidate.

Emanuel, however, cast his response in the form of a campaign position, defending the "hard choices" he's had to make in his first term.

"I've balanced the budget three years in a row by holding the line on property, sales and gas taxes," he said. "We made the hard decisions to balance our budget without tax increases."

Emanuel suggested tax revenue from marijuana would be tainted, as it would undermine the city's efforts to cut smoking entirely.

"I'm really proud of the fact that the City of Chicago took a leadership [role] in dissuading teens and others from smoking cigarettes," he added, citing how "91 percent of kids are tobacco-free." He also cited the city's efforts to combat menthol cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

Lewis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Emanuel held the news conference at the Shedd Aquarium, where he was joining the mayors of 20 U.S. and Canadian cities and members of the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Cities Initiatives to discuss water safety in the wake of the contamination of the Toledo, Ohio, water supply in Lake Erie this summer. They proposed a $10 million science prize to deal with phosphorus in runoff to help keep water supplies safe.

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