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Alabama Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Marijuana Decriminalization In Committee Vote

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An Alabama Senate committee unanimously approved a bill on Wednesday that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In an 11-0 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the legislation, which will now head to a full Senate vote. The same committee passed a similar bill last year in a narrower 6-4 vote, though a related proposal was defeated by a House panel.

The legislation would revise penalties for possession of varying amounts of cannabis.

People caught with one ounce or less would be punished by a $250 fine for the first two offenses and a $500 fine for subsequent offenses. Possession of more than an ounce but less than two ounces would be considered a class A misdemeanor. And possession of more than two ounces would be a class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

A fiscal note states that the legislation could “decrease receipts” for the state government’s general fund from fines, but could also “decrease the obligations of local jails, the State General Fund, the district attorneys, the Department of Corrections, community corrections programs, and the Board of Pardons and Paroles by an undetermined amount dependent upon the number of persons charged with and convicted of the offenses provided by this bill and the penalties imposed.”

“It’s encouraging that even in one of the most conservative states in the country, lawmakers are recognizing that jailing marijuana consumers doesn’t make sense,” Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment.

“North Carolina and Mississippi enacted similar reforms back in the 1970s,” she said. “Even a brief jail stay can be traumatic—or even deadly—and can disrupt housing and employment, with devastating consequences.”

Sen. Bobby Singleton (D) introduced the bill last month, arguing that the existing system of charging residents for marijuana possession is arbitrary. The severity of a possession charge currently isn’t based on the amount of cannabis, but instead whether law enforcement determines that the marijuana was for personal or non-personal use.

“We can’t continue to send people to prison for petty crimes that are definitely nonviolent,” he told WHNT News 19 last month.

In the past month, committees in Missouri, Hawaii and Texas have each advanced marijuana decriminalization bills, and the governor of New Mexico signed decriminalization legislation into law.

Missouri Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Marijuana Decriminalization Bill In Committee

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

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Kyle Jaeger is Marijuana Moment's Sacramento-based managing editor. His work has also appeared in High Times, VICE and attn.

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