Oswego is looking at increasing fines for underage tobacco and marijuana use as a way to encourage young people to choose a new free counseling option.
The Oswego Village Board as a committee of the whole has been discussing increasing the fines for violations within the tobacco and alternative products ordinance. No formal vote has been taken yet on the issue.
The proposal is to increase Class II tobacco offenses which currently carry a $75 fine and the cannabis and drug paraphernalia Class III offense that carries a fine of $100 to Class IV offenses. The fines for both would be $250 under the proposal.
Oswego Police Chief Jason Bastin in a report to trustees said he has been working with Oswego-based School District 308 officials to address the problem of underage people using tobacco and marijuana.
The use among students has “grown exponentially” in part because of the ease in which the products are obtained and ingested, Bastin said.
“The use of tobacco and cannabis amongst our youth is climbing towards epidemic proportions,” Bastin said in a report to trustees.
Frequently, parents opt to pay a $75 ticket rather than have their child seek counseling, he said.
“The ease with which our youth can obtain these items and the way they are ingested, specifically with the use of vapes, are of great concern,” Bastin said.
There is a correlation between the legalization of marijuana in Illinois and the increasing number of young people found possessing THC products, “specifically in our schools,” the police chief said.
He said school district officials agree with the police that increasing the fines for underage tobacco and marijuana use would be beneficial as a way to encourage young people to get counseling.
“Our efforts to combat vaping in schools has been to issue ordinance tickets to those who were in possession of either nicotine or cannabis. There has been an exponential increase in offenses in Oswego schools since 2016. Issuing ordinance tickets with a low fine amount has not worked to slow offenses,” he said.
He said there were 111 tickets issued to young people for the offenses during the 2022-23 school year.
The police department this school year has collaborated with the school district to offer an intervention and education program. First offense violators of either the tobacco or marijuana ordinance now receive “psycho-educational intervention” by district staff, officials said.
Students who commit a second offense are referred to law enforcement. Oswego police have partnered with Family Counseling Services of Oswego to provide “another layer of intervention” rather than issuing an ordinance ticket, Bastin said.
“If the violator chooses to attend the intervention class, we pay for the class and no ticket is issued. The student is issued a fine if he or she chooses not to attend the intervention class,” he said.
Although the program is relatively new, the department is finding that most second offense violators are opting to pay the ticket rather than attend an intervention class, he said.
“We believe a higher fine amount would encourage violators to attend the intervention class,” Bastin said.
He said Oswego school officials support the fines being raised and even requested they be raised higher than $250, he said.
Due to the counseling option, the higher fines would not generate additional revenue for the village, he said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.