Another week and another discussion at City Hall about marijuana.
Around noon, Kansas City's public safety committee voted to advance a proposed ordinance that could go on the ballot. It will impact anyone caught with 35 grams or less of pot.
Last week, the committee tackled the ordinance that gets rid of jail time and caps the fine at $25 in municipal court.
According to city statistics, more than 1,000 people are charged in municipal court each year for marijuana possession.
This effort to reduce penalties is spearheaded by the Kansas City chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) who are:
"Trying to save individuals that might lose public housing assistance or school assistance for money or something along those lines and then also decrease the penalties for something that should be a non-issue," Ian Spomer, a consultant for NORML KC said.
More than 2,100 people who signed their petition agree.
Although council members passed it out of committee Wednesday, they didn't endorse it.
"With the signatures we can currently go ahead and put it on the ballot as we have it written but we have in good faith negotiated with the city on some sticking points and hopefully it'll go through," Spomer said.
The full council's vote Thursday will ultimately say whether or not the proposal makes the April ballot.
----
Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
