Mayor Kasim Reed signed a law approved by the Atlanta City Council to decriminalize less than an ounce of marijuana.
Citizens of Atlanta now only face a $75 fine instead of paying a $1,000 fine and serving a six-month jail sentence, the ordinance said.
Councilman Kwanza Hall, who supports the law, said it allows the justice system to focus on broader issues within the community.
“It speaks volumes to the fact that we are trying and moving in the right direction around criminal justice reform,” Councilman Hall said. “It’s a common-sense piece of legislation because it’s allowing us to focus our public safety resources more on serious and violent crimes as opposed to petty and small crimes.”
Councilman Hall also said racial disparities contribute to the decision to move forward.
“It has caused college students to lose their scholarships, it has caused people to lose their jobs, to become unemployable, to lose everything,” Hall said. “The disparity that exists for African Americans in terms of convictions and incarceration for possession of less than an ounce is glaringly obvious. The numbers don’t lie.”
Although the law decriminalizes small amounts of marijuana, it does not make its use legal.
Jeffrey Coleman, Director of the Multicultural Center at Georgia State University, said more research needs to be done about marijuana usage.
“We’ve seen in different states how marijuana can be used for medical reasons and so I think that we ought to just examine how this will work out and see what the benefits will be to various communities,” Coleman said.
Some students like Jeremy Henderson feel more can be done outside of Atlanta and across the state.
“Let’s just take Atlanta out of the picture for a second because it’s decriminalized now, but noting that everywhere else in the state of Georgia that so many people are just living in fear thinking that their lives can be ruined over something that could be used as medicine.”
Since the law was made in Atlanta, Savannah has also taken a similar approach.
Note: This story was written for PRN, the student-led news station at Georgia State University.
