• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Illegal to be high in Illinois?

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

BIGGIE78

Junior Member
Hello all!

This is my first post here, and I'm looking to some of you guys to help settle a little debate between me and my friends.

I'm a junior at Illinois State University and I'm majoring in Criminal Law and Justice Sciences. Last semester I took a criminal law class with a former judge but we never hit on this controversial point. Obviously, it is illegal to be in possession of marijuana or paraphernalia in Illinois, but is it illegal to be PHYSICALLY high? I've done Google search after Google search and the best thing I can come up with is "internal possession" but I have no clue if that is valid in Illinois.

What I would like help settling is a situation such as this:

Say you and a friend were high on marijuana and were walking down the street and were stopped by a police officer (say you were walking down the party area of campus) and the officer smelled weed on you, could you be in trouble? Let's say in this scenario that you don't have anything on you but your buddy does. Obviously you wouldn't be charged with what your buddy had but if you admit to the cop that you are high can you get in trouble?

Thanks in advance to the responses and I look forward to putting in my .02 here on the forum!
 


Indiana Filer

Senior Member
Hello all!

This is my first post here, and I'm looking to some of you guys to help settle a little debate between me and my friends.

I'm a junior at Illinois State University and I'm majoring in Criminal Law and Justice Sciences. Last semester I took a criminal law class with a former judge but we never hit on this controversial point. Obviously, it is illegal to be in possession of marijuana or paraphernalia in Illinois, but is it illegal to be PHYSICALLY high? I've done Google search after Google search and the best thing I can come up with is "internal possession" but I have no clue if that is valid in Illinois.

What I would like help settling is a situation such as this:

Say you and a friend were high on marijuana and were walking down the street and were stopped by a police officer (say you were walking down the party area of campus) and the officer smelled weed on you, could you be in trouble? Let's say in this scenario that you don't have anything on you but your buddy does. Obviously you wouldn't be charged with what your buddy had but if you admit to the cop that you are high can you get in trouble?

Thanks in advance to the responses and I look forward to putting in my .02 here on the forum!

They could arrest you for public intoxication.
 

BIGGIE78

Junior Member
Thanks for your response Indiana Filer! So if the person who was high admitted being under the influence of marijuana they would be considered "intoxicated"? I've heard rumors that it is LEGAL to be high on marijuana but NOT other drugs such as cocaine, heroin, etc. On Busted, an MTV show, a girl was arrested for being high in a park on meth. Obviously that is different than marijuana but it definitely makes me question the circumstances. I wish there was a place online that listed all of Illinois laws. My friends are getting in trouble for things we've never even heard of that we didn't even know was a law. Ignorance of the law is no excuse but if there isn't anywhere to look at the laws how are you supposed to be aware of them?
 

Silverplum

Senior Member
Thanks for your response Indiana Filer! So if the person who was high admitted being under the influence of marijuana they would be considered "intoxicated"? I've heard rumors that it is LEGAL to be high on marijuana but NOT other drugs such as cocaine, heroin, etc. On Busted, an MTV show, a girl was arrested for being high in a park on meth. Obviously that is different than marijuana but it definitely makes me question the circumstances. I wish there was a place online that listed all of Illinois laws. My friends are getting in trouble for things we've never even heard of that we didn't even know was a law. Ignorance of the law is no excuse but if there isn't anywhere to look at the laws how are you supposed to be aware of them?
Really? Really?

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

http://lmgtfy.com/

http://www.law.siu.edu/lawlib/illaw/ilcourts.htm
 

wyett717

Member
Obviously, it is illegal to be in possession of marijuana or paraphernalia in Illinois, but is it illegal to be PHYSICALLY high?
It is illegal to be under the influence of illicit drugs. So yes, if you are HIGH, you are under the influence.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top