A July proposal that would drastically cut criminal penalties for marijuana possession is gaining traction among D.C. government officials.
Six councilmembers have co-signed the bill alongside authors Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and mayoral candidate Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), while current Mayor Vincent Gray officially backed the measure in late October. The council will debate the bill sometime in December or January, according to a Washington Post report.
While current possession fines include a minimum six-month jail sentence and a $1,000 fine, Wells’ proposal would eliminate all criminal charges for up to an ounce of marijuana and penalize offenders with a $100 civil fine. Wells and the city Attorney General’s Office have even advocated for a fine as small as $25, according to the same Washington Post article.
The bill’s momentum primes D.C. to join a wave of states that have passed similar decriminalization laws. If passed, D.C. would have the second-most lenient possession laws in the country behind Alaska, stopping short of full legalization passed in Colorado and Washington in 2012, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.
School of Public Affairs junior Sam McBee, president and founder of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy at AU, said his club is pleased with the bill’s momentum.
“[The bill] signals that the District is opening up to the idea of treating cannabis use as a public health issue instead of a criminal issue,” he said in an email, noting that the initiative would also provide greater protection to medical marijuana users who do not currently qualify under the District’s medical marijuana program.
Echoing the bill’s authors, McBee hopes the bill will help keep District youth of color out of prison. A June ACLU study found that African-Americans in D.C. are eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites.
However, he warned that loopholes and biased enforcement have undermined a similar decriminalization program in New York City. Police have disproportionately targeted low-income and minority communities through harsher penalties for the public display of cannabis, he said.
Although McBee conceded decriminalization may increase usage among minors, he argued legalizing and regulating marijuana would be the safest policy for D.C. communities.
“Only one who is ignorant, irrational and/or incapable of using Google for 10 minutes would be in favor of continuing to deny the right of an American citizen to choose a safer medical, recreational and/or spiritual substance than the deadly alternatives that the government currently allows,” he said in an email.
lsandoval@theeagleonline.com
