--- description: Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday signed a law decriminalizing minor marijuana possession, making the state the 21st to do so title: Illinois Is the Latest State to Decriminalize Small Amounts of Marijuana image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [States](/tag/states/) ## States Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Illinois Is the Latest State to Decriminalize Small Amounts of Marijuana  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2016 2:23 PM CUT  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2016 2:23 PM CUT Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday signed a law [decriminalizing possession of a small amount of marijuana](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-illinois-marijuana-decriminalzation-0730-20160729-story.html "undefined"), making the state the 21st to do so. Under the new law, possession of 10 grams of marijuana or less is now punishable by fines of $100 to $200, instead of jail time, the Chicago _Tribune_ reports. Illinois law previously made possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana a class B misdemeanor that carried up to six months in jail and fines up to $1,500. Rauner, a Republican, signed the law after using an amendatory veto on a measure last year that he said included too small a fine and allowed for the possession of too much of the drug. **Read more:** [A Brief History of Marijuana Law in America](http://time.com/4298038/marijuana-history-in-america/ "undefined") In addition to Illinois, 20 states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, and similar legislation is pending in other states, [according to the National Conference of State Legislatures](http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/marijuana-overview.aspx "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4431893/illinois-marijuana-decriminalization-bruce-rauner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4431893/illinois-marijuana-decriminalization-bruce-rauner/"},"headline":"Illinois Is the Latest State to Decriminalize Small Amounts of Marijuana","datePublished":"2016-07-30T14:23:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:40:19.749Z","description":"Pot possession is now punishable by a citation, instead of a jail time","url":"https://time.com/4431893/illinois-marijuana-decriminalization-bruce-rauner/","keywords":["States","Crime","Drugs","Illinois"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/states/","name":"States"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4431893/illinois-marijuana-decriminalization-bruce-rauner/","name":"Illinois Is the Latest State to Decriminalize Small Amounts of Marijuana"}}]}] ```