Yes, Chicago was and still is horrible, though you are less likely to get badly busted for small amounts of weed if you are white, which I am.
Also, IL recently legalized medical marijuana and liberalized its laws.
At the time of my arrest, I lived in Highland Park, IL, a rich, mostly Jewish, suburb of Chicago along what was called the North Shore. My late aunt all but gave us a house to get us out of the city, as the neighborhood in which we lived, East Rogers Park, had become known as "The Jungle" and was no longer safe.
Constant shootings and racial turmoil. I think now parts of it are becoming gentrified.
