Santa Fe, NM to Decriminalize Cannabis

On Aug. 28, Santa Fe made history by becoming the first city in New Mexico to decriminalize cannabis in a non-decriminalized state. New Mexico is opting to let each city decide instead of putting the issue to public vote—passing the initiative five to four. Apparently, even the one dissenting voter was in favor of decriminalization; he just felt the issue should be put to a public vote in November instead of being decided behind closed doors.

The earlier laws classified even less than an ounce as a misdemeanor, with up to hundreds of dollars in fines or fifteen days in jail as the penalty. Under the revised law, the most individuals can receive for being caught with this amount is a city citation. While this could still mean trouble for some, citations are not noted at a state level and do not denote jail time, just the possibility of a minimal fee or ticket. 

Emily Kaltenback, a Santa Fe advocate and representative of the Drug Policy Alliance, claims she has poled over 11,000 people in the area and over 70% are in favor of decriminalization. Although she hoped for an even more drastic change, she told Reuters that “It still is a historic win for us all.”

This is still just legislation on a city-wide level, which holds even less sway against the federal government than state-wide, and the citations could still carry with them a fee and be unfair to those in possession of small amounts of cannabis. Still, this is a huge step forward from jail time for having negligible amounts, and with their neighbors to the north allowing full recreational use, this seems like a definite step in the right direction. Perhaps as more areas surrounding legal states loosen their grip on legislation, we will see a ripple effect that can make some changes at a national level.