The Metro Council may soon vote for the first time on whether to decriminalize possession of marijuana. An ordinance has been filed for consideration that would lessen the penalty to a $50 fine or 10 hours of community service.
The key sponsor of this
marijuana proposal, Councilman Dave Rosenburg, wants violators to just get a ticket rather than being arrested. A half-ounce is the cutoff. Other cities have passed similar decriminalization laws in recent years. But it’s hard to know how Nashville will come down, says Councilman Freddie O’Connell. He’s one of the three co-sponsors.
“I just saw the bill and thought it was a good one,” he says. “So I really couldn’t tell you what kind of floor fight we’re into here.”
When Megan Barry was running for mayor last year, she said she supported decriminalization as a way to correct the racial imbalance in small-time drug arrests.
“It ruins lives,” she said at a candidate forum. “I think at the end of the day, I would work with the public defender, the district attorney and the police officers to make sure that whatever we’re implementing works for them.”
Right now, law enforcement officials say they do have concerns about the current wording of the ordinance. A Metro Police spokesman says the department is worried the law would limit an officer’s discretion to make an arrest for marijuana if the situation called for it.
A first reading for the marijuana decriminalization ordinance is scheduled for Tuesday night.
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