Brandon Nemec, an assistant state’s attorney from Cook County, said prosecutors support the measure.

“It’s very much a resource-based rationale for why we support this legislation,” Nemec said. “All too often, particularly in Cook County, we have a situation where an individual is arrested for a small amount of cannabis, they are sought to appear before a court, and the case is dismissed.”

Those situations use up resources that could be better spent prosecuting higher-level drug crimes and violent offenses and “put someone into the criminal justice system with an arrest on their record,” he said.

State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, was one of the three Republicans on the committee who voted against the bill.

Righter, a former prosecutor, said he has questions about whether the legal system would still be able direct people who need it into drug treatment and how circuit court clerks would handle expungements.

Ralph Rivera of the Illinois Family Institute testified at the committee hearing that he shares the concern about people getting the intervention or treatment they need.

“We’re always concerned about what message it is for the youth,” he said.

​daniel.petrella@lee.net|(217) 782-4043

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