Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Local marijuana ordinance passed

BY

The Newark City Council voted to add marijuana citations to the city code, bringing the municipal laws in line with state decriminalization. Civil marijuana citations given by city police will now be handled by the local Alderman’s Court, which has jurisdiction over municipal ordinances.

The bill passed Monday, March 14, with only council member Robert Gifford of District 3 voting against it. He said his vote was not meant to protest the legislation itself, but how quickly it was voted in.

“I’m not necessarily saying that I’m against the way we ended up doing it,” Gifford said. “But 10 minutes of conversation wasn’t enough to prove to me that this was the right direction for us.”

Mayor Polly Sierer, however, did not see a reason to slow down the ordinance. The council had to make local laws fit with state legislation.

“I don’t think a whole lot of discussion is necessarily required if you’re doing something that is mirroring the state law because we have no choice anyway,” Sierer said.

The ordinance will save police and residents’ time, since they will no longer have to drive to other courts when a marijuana fine is contested. It will also add some revenue from those citations to the city budget.

Council member Todd Ruckle of District 2 also saw no problem voting on the ordinance without much debate, calling it a “housekeeping measure.” The debate has already happened at the state level last year, he said.

“This was literally brought up from the state saying, ‘please mirror our laws,’” Ruckle said. “And that’s pretty much what we did.”

Marijuana decriminalization in Delaware went into effect Dec. 18 of last year. Private use of marijuana, as well as possession of up to an ounce carry $100 civil citations under this legislation.

Cases involving larger quantities of marijuana use in public cross into unclassified misdemeanors, and will not be processed by the Alderman’s Court.

People over 18 but under 21 are only eligible for the civil penalty under their first offense.

Cynthia Ferguson, executive director of NORML’s Delaware chapter, thinks the decriminalization bill is a step in the right direction, but contains too many technicalities that can result in criminal charges.

Anyone caught smoking within 10 feet of areas “to which the general public is invited,” such as sidewalks, streets, parking lots and alleys, still faces a misdemeanor, Ferguson said.

“I live in the city, so I live on a corner property,” Ferguson said. “My backyard is within 10 feet of the sidewalk and you can’t smoke within 10 feet of the sidewalk.”

Council member Gifford said he wanted more community and council input on the policy. He did not want to approve laws without first talking things out.

The Newark ordinance is the same as the state legislation, only changing the court at which the citations are processed.

“We had no hand in helping to write this,” Gifford said. “And I actually wanted to have a discussion about this particular drug at a council meeting because there are a lot of changes happening in the United States about marijuana. I wanted to have a discussion with the other council members about this before we just blindly follow what the state changed.”

Ferguson contrasted Delaware’s decriminalization law with Philadelphia’s, which has been on the books since 2014. The Philadelphia ordinance removed criminal penalties on both possession and public use of marijuana, which now carry fines of $25 and $100 respectively, despite being misdemeanors at the state level.

Delaware, however, does not allow municipalities to pass more relaxed policies than the state has in place.

“We are permitted to make stronger laws than the state, but we are not permitted to have any law less than what the state law is,” Sierer said. “And if we do, then the state law prevails.”

Ferguson said the next step for marijuana advocates in Delaware is to push for full legalization, complete with a tax system similar to that of alcohol.

She admits legalization will not be easy — every Republican in the state legislative branch voted against the decriminalization bill. Still, Ferguson remains confident.

“I’m extremely optimistic,” Ferguson said. “This is a great time. I’m 55 years old and marijuana is going to be legal in my lifetime.”

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