By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO) Legalizing recreational pot got another legislative hearing and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle told state lawmakers she’s for it.

Preckwinkle acknowledges government certainly could use the money taxing marijuana, but she says the bigger issue is race.

She argues enforcement of the current laws discriminate against black and brown people, “My youngest, who is college-aged, went to visit one of her friends at Northwestern. She came back and said, ‘Mom, you won’t believe it. The kids walk up and down the street and nobody says anything.’

“I said, yes, Jenny.”

Then she (Jenny) said, “If my friends and I did this in our neighborhood, we’d be arrested.”

“And I said, yes, Jenny.”

Critics of legalizing pot said it would cause lower achievement among young adult students and more deaths on the highways.

@ 2017 WLS-AM News