URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n597/a04.html
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Votes: 0
Pubdate: Tue, 30 Aug 2016
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2016 Associated Press
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Website: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Marc Levy, Associated Press
WOLF: DECRIMINALIZE SMALL AMOUNTS OF POT
HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania needs to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana possession, Gov. Wolf said Monday, yet he remains guarded about the kind of recreational legalization that is in place in several western states.
While some cities have stopped arresting people for possessing small amounts and prosecutors have been downgrading it as a crime, the state should act because too many people are still going to prison for marijuana possession, Wolf said.
“I think we need to do that in a more systematic fashion,” Wolf told WITF-FM’s Smart Talk program. “There are too many people who are going to prison because of the use of very modest amounts, or carry modest amounts of marijuana, and that is clogging up our prisons, it’s destroying families, and it’s hurting our economy, so I think decriminalization is the first step.”
According to the marijuana advocacy group NORML, 20 states and Washington have decriminalized certain marijuana possession offenses, making them either a summary offense, like a minor traffic violation, or a misdemeanor that carries no jail time.
The Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association is not opposed to downgrading the penalty for possessing small amounts of marijuana from the misdemeanor that it currently is, but very few people go to jail for it, said Ed Marsico, the Dauphin County district attorney.
Thirty days in jail is the maximum penalty for misdemeanor possession. Prosecutors are working to keep any sort of drug possession cases from going to jail, Marsico said, although drug dealers are another matter.
Wolf stopped short of endorsing the kind of full legalization of recreational use that has taken place for adults 21 and over in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.
“I think we can watch what happens in Colorado and Washington and Oregon and see what their experience is,” Wolf said. “I’m not sure it’s been uniformly great.”
Wolf signed the medical marijuana bill in April. The Department of Health said it will take until early 2018 to make medical marijuana available to eligible patients.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom