{"id":100653,"date":"2018-04-03T17:13:19","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T23:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/albuquerque-city-council-votes-to-decriminalize-marijuana\/"},"modified":"2018-04-03T17:13:19","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T23:13:19","slug":"albuquerque-city-council-votes-to-decriminalize-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/albuquerque-city-council-votes-to-decriminalize-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Albuquerque City Council votes to decriminalize marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Richard M. Hackett\/Longmont Daily Times-Call file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The proposal put forward by city council members Pat Davis and Isaac Benton would amend Albuquerque\u2019s criminal code by making it a citable offense to possess an ounce (28 grams) of pot and paraphernalia without a valid medical marijuana referral. Authorities could issue a $25 ticket but no jail time. Councilman Pat Davis equated the penalty to a traffic ticket, saying that for many it would \u201cbeat having to check a box for the rest of your life\u201d and deal with years of consequences that can result from having a marijuana misdemeanor show up on a court record.<\/p>\n

He and Councilman Isaac Benton sponsored the proposal, presenting it as a public safety issue. They argued their proposal will free up police, who have contended with staffing shortages in recent years, to focus on more serious crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, our police officers have more important things to do\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

The bill still must receive final approval from Democratic Mayor Tim Keller. Last year, he replaced Richard Berry, a Republican who had vetoed a similar proposal in 2015.<\/p>\n

If passed this year, Albuquerque would join a growing list of U.S. municipalities that have enacted similar measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would put Albuquerque in line with a third of the population\u201d in the United States, said Emily Kaltenbach, the state director in New Mexico for the Drug Policy Alliance, which has advocated nationally for easing drug sentencing laws.<\/p>\n

Santa Fe already has a similar measure decriminalizing marijuana in place.<\/p>\n

Under Albuquerque\u2019s current criminal code, police can issue $50 fines to first-time offenders possessing an ounce or less of marijuana. Authorities also can jail first-time offenders for a maximum of 15 days, though such instances appear to be rare. The fines and penalties increase with a second violation.<\/p>\n

While a petty misdemeanor, a marijuana possession charge can potentially hinder a person\u2019s chances at securing housing or student loans, Kaltenbach said.<\/p>\n

The City Council approved the measure on a 5-4 vote. Councilwoman Cynthia Borrego was among those who voted against it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no empirical evidence that shows the relationship between a reduction in crime and decriminalizing marijuana,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The measure also has backing from the city\u2019s police union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard M. Hackett\/Longmont Daily Times-Call file The proposal put forward by city council members Pat Davis and Isaac Benton would amend Albuquerque\u2019s criminal code by making it a citable offense to possess an ounce (28 grams) of pot and paraphernalia without a valid medical marijuana referral. Authorities could issue a $25 ticket but no jail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[135],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-100653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-marijuana"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100653"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=100653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}