New Laws for Marijuana Lessen the Punishment for Use

The use of marijuana is becoming an increasingly mainstream activity every day. In recent years, I have noticed a definite movement toward normalizing an activity that once associated only with hippies and criminals. There are currently 18 states that have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes and a multitude of states that have decriminalized it to the point it only calls for payment of a fine as opposed to having to serve jail time.

The states that have decriminalized marijuana are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oregon. You can have 30 grams of marijuana on a first offense as long as it is for personal use and not sale. If caught, you won’t have to serve time in prison but will be subjected to pay a fine of $250.

Personally, I was surprised to see my home state of Mississippi decriminalizing marijuana because it notoriously known for the backwards thinking often demonstrated by its legislature and elected officials. I think that marijuana will be legalized recreationally and medically nationwide in the next 3 -5 years and I think the government is slowly getting the citizens acclimated to it by making it more visible and packaging it to be less of a threatening substance.

What is your opinion on the legalization of marijuana?

Malcolm Morrow, a Your Black World Network contributor, is a senior, criminal justice major at The University of Southern Miss.

 

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