Kasim Reed Signs Cannabis Decrim Law

October 12, 2017

Atlanta just had a bill signed to have cannabis decriminalized. However, nothing actually happened. It was all perplexing, vague, and unprofessional at the same time. A series of tweets went out that had the people confused whether Kasim Reed—the Mayor—had even legalized the drug or not. Finally, after all the mess over social media, it has finally been confirmed that Atlanta has, in fact, decriminalized marijuana.

Last week, the City Council had voted for lessening the penalties faced by people caught with the possession of marijuana. An ordinance was unanimously passed which had the bill sent to the Mayor’s desk. Being a proponent, it was expected that Mayor Reed will not have to think twice before signing the bill. Clearly, that didn’t happen.

Instead, early in the morning on Wednesday, a tweet was sent out from the City Council’s Twitter account. It said that Kasim Reed had vetoed the decrim bill. The tweet read,

“We received an email overnight that the Mayor VETOED our marijuana legislation for less than one ounce.”

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This came as a major shock to the residents of the state. But people knew it was some sort of misunderstanding. The reason being that backing out on the decrim bill itself would have been a faulty move for the Mayor’s political figure. Moreover, by doing that, he would have gone against his own words in support of the bill.

Some political adversaries went on to state this tweet as a political stunt. Around forty minutes after the initial tweet had been sent, the City Council reacted. The following tweet revealed that the Mayor has not vetoed the bill. It was later found out that the initial tweet was regarding some land sale—a topic that was in no way related to cannabis or its decriminalization bill.

This stunt initiated a blame game among the members. The fault was first pinned to Dexter Cambers and later moved towards a new hire who was believed to have no knowledge of the procedure. This also bombarded the Mayor with questions throughout the day. He tried his best to not talk about what happened and instead about the legislation.

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Before the bill was signed, those caught with an ounce of marijuana were subject to a thousand dollar fine in addition to six months of jailtime. The new has reduced this fine to a mere $75 while the jailtime has completely been eradicated from the punishment. The advocated of the bill have also pointed out that the laws regarding marijuana are also a victim of racial discrimination.

Kwanza Hall—Councilman—is the person behind the bill. He introduced it back in March 2017 while describing how the last bill racially discriminates against victims. Well, all that is behind us now. Atlanta has finally decriminalized MMJ, and the new bill does not racially discriminate against anyone.

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