{"id":556333,"date":"2018-04-03T08:36:11","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T14:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=556333"},"modified":"2018-04-03T08:37:15","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T14:37:15","slug":"abq-city-council-sends-cannabis-decriminalization-to-kellers-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/04\/abq-city-council-sends-cannabis-decriminalization-to-kellers-desk\/","title":{"rendered":"ABQ City Council sends cannabis decriminalization to Keller&#8217;s desk"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_66499\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/feverblue\/7550299240\/in\/photolist-cvcfV7-92Yxoj-92VjYH-2VqKFS-ffJffR-4CaESc-5bzjuB-ffJfwP-dod3rs-vhH3xU-8dvo8A-dobxRi-5212Qa-4rhV4Y-rdqjy-4csaJH-92Vpev-5ZPuxr-92Vi5T-oA9iY-4csbqT-naNysN-ncTcyE-ncR2eX-naNwQz-ncRh5B-ncTfxA-ncQYji-ncTdnJ-naNA6Y-naNw94-ncTeWq-naNxKb-ncRiBz-naNyi5-92Vhxg-naNtLd-naNsTG-ncRcu4-naNtiQ-ncT8Z5-ncQU5g-dobAiR-uCxbrJ-dobHWq-dobHL5-dobH27-dobHpf-4cs92R-4rdPea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-66499 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-771x431.jpg\" alt=\"Albuquerque\" width=\"771\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-771x431.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-336x188.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-1170x654.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Will Keightley \/ Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Albuquerque at sunset.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The City of Albuquerque is one step closer to reducing the penalties for the possession of small amounts of cannabis. City councilors voted 5-4 Monday night to replace the current ordinance that allows for possible jail time for cannabis possession with a $25 fine.<\/p>\n<p>Now it\u2019s up to Mayor Tim Keller to make it official.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpoliticalreport.com\/821058\/cannabis-decriminalization-heads-to-kellers-desk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico Political Report<\/a>,\u00a0a nonprofit news organization\u00a0focused on promoting a greater public understanding of politics and policy in the state of New Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Under current city law, possession of an ounce or less of cannabis could result in a $50 fine and up to 15 days in jail for a first offense and a possible $500 fine and up to 90 days in jail for repeat offenses.<\/p>\n<p>Councilor Cynthia Borrego was the only Democrat to vote against the proposal. She explained that there is \u201cnot really any empirical evidence\u201d showing a correlation between decreased penalties and reduced crime rates. She added that she supports medical cannabis programs and has \u201cfriends that do medical marijuana,\u201d but said she\u2019s also worried that unregulated cannabis may be \u201claced\u201d with other toxic substances.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters of the measure far outnumbered opponents during the public comment period of the meeting. About a dozen people, including advocates from New Mexico\u2019s American Civil Liberties Union and Drug Policy Alliance, urged councilors to vote for the measure. One person spoke against the legislation, arguing police can use criminal drug charges as a \u201ctool\u201d to hold suspects while furthering an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time the council approved this type of ordinance. But it is the first time this specific, politically left-leaning council has sent such a measure to the progressive Keller.<\/p>\n<p>During his campaign in 2017 Keller said he would be willing to sign decriminalization legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The City of Albuquerque is one step closer to reducing the penalties for the possession of small amounts of cannabis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,142,3259,1189],"class_list":["post-556333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-albuquerque","tag-crime","tag-drug-policy","tag-tim-keller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}