The Philadelphia City Council voted to decriminalize marijuana recently, drawing praise from civil rights organizations and marijuana reform activists. Yesterday, Philadelphia’s Mayor said he would sign the measure, but only after there were some tweaks to the law. Per CBS Local:
Mayor Nutter today agreed to sign into law a bill that essentially decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana. But he says he’ll sign it only after City Council tweaks certain details of the measure.
Mayor Nutter praised Kenney’s efforts and says the councilman’s original opened his eyes about the issue and prompted the administration to study how other cities were handling possession of small amounts of pot.
“So I think the agreement ends up putting the city and our citizens in a much better place,” Nutter said.
The measure has to go back to the City Council to be amended, then has to be re-approved, then to the Mayor’s desk to sign it. Even after the measure becomes law, there is still the hurdle of getting Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey to follow the law. In June Chief Ramsey said that he will ignore the city law and not follow it until state law has changed. I’d advise Chief Ramsey to look at his badge and remind himself he was hired by the City of Philadelphia, not the Pennsylvania State Police.
