Marijuana Up in Smoke - We Love The Herb

 

Changing DC’s Criminal Panorama: Is Jail-time for Marijuana Up in Smoke?
by Jeevan Rampersad

With advocates urgent the DC Board of Elections so as to add marijuana legalization to the DC Poll, permitting voters to determine the difficulty of legalizing marijuana in the nation’s capital, DC councilmembers have weighed in on a provision on that might drastically change DC’s felony panorama, whereas nonetheless holding marijuana possession and smoking illegal. The new provision would change the penalty for marijuana possession, in most instances, to a civil high-quality just like these issued for open container violations.

The marijuana reform motion isn’t new to the District. In 1998, almost 70% of voters in Washington, DC supported a medical marijuana program in the District. Quick ahead virtually 20 years, and a current ballot by the Washington Submit exhibits an fascinating shift from supporting medical marijuana to the precise legalization of marijuana possession. Residents in the district now favor legalizing drug possession for private use by virtually 2 to 1.¹


Whereas advocates would wish to influence the DC Board of Elections and gather 25,000 signatures for a measure to succeed in the DC Poll, marijuana possession reform has discovered its method into the boardroom of the DC Council.

In an awesome eleven to 1 vote, District Councilmembers eradicated legal penalties for marijuana possession in deference to a civil based mostly strategy. Underneath the brand new bill, people caught possessing an oz or much less of marijuana would face a $25 superb, making the offense akin to a minor parking violation. Beneath present regulation, an analogous offense might result in imprisonment of as much as six months.

After Mayor Vincent C. Grey withdrew unconditional help for the decriminalization provisions, citing worry of widespread public smoking inside the District, Councilmembers responded by including a provision that retains public smoking of marijuana an illegal legal offense. The Council, nevertheless, decreased the utmost jail penalty for public smoking from six months to 60 days, registering the offense as a felony misdemeanor with a potential positive of $500.

Supporters of the bill cite statistics that present the present legal strategy to marijuana disenfranchises a whole phase of the DC group. Current research present that present marijuana enforcement disproportionally targets the black group, regardless that blacks are not any extra probably than whites to interact in marijuana use. In truth, the Washington Lawyer’s Committee just lately reported that 9 out of each 10 individuals arrested for marijuana possession in DC have been black, though blacks solely account for half of the city’s general inhabitants. In response to the Drug Coverage Alliance, arrests and jail time for marijuana expends taxpayer cash and outcomes in a legal report that denies entry to employment, housing, enterprise, and academic grants, and scholar loans.

However, opponents say the bill successfully sends the message that marijuana use is suitable so long as smoking is confined to non-public areas. Opponents additionally state the bill will do nothing to battle racial disparity in marijuana enforcement and unfairly expands cease-and-frisk procedures. Dan Riffle, of the Marijuana Coverage Challenge, said that an officer might mistake any mild for the sunshine of a joint and successfully cease and query anybody.

A number of Councilmembers hinted in the direction of amending the bill additional earlier than pushing a last vote that may land the bill on the mayor’s desk. Whereas the ultimate say is not sure, one factor stays sure– with the push to get marijuana initiatives on the DC Poll, the legal panorama of the District’s marijuana program is altering.

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/web page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/01/15/Nationwide-Politics/Polling/release_285.xml

Source

Source

Marijuana Up in Smoke - We Love The Herb