If it didn’t get enthusiastic support Tuesday night, a proposal to decriminalize marijuana in McComb didn’t prompt vehement opposition, either.
At-large Selectman Donovan Hill offered a draft ordinance on that subject during the city board’s work session, seeking to make possession of 30 grams or less of the plant a misdemeanor.
“In other states, people can use (marijuana) and not face imprisonment,” Hill said. “They don’t lose their families. They don’t lose their jobs … If we can keep citizens out of jail, so they can keep their jobs and families, they won’t be a burden for the city or Pike County.”
Under the ordinance Hill offered, which is based on a similar rule instituted in Jackson, anyone caught with an amount of marijuana below the 30-gram limit would be issued a ticket for $100 and given a court date.
Police Chief Scott McKenzie said his department had considered trying to develop misdemeanor citation books and issuing tickets and court dates for a variety of lower-level and first-time offenses.
“There’s good and bad, but I’m not necessarily against doing this for a first offense,” McKenzie said. “I’m not going to say marijuana is not a bad thing, but it depends on who uses it, and how much.”
The chief equated 30 grams of marijuana to a pack of cigarettes to perhaps as many as 30 cigarettes.
Selectman Michael Cameron asked to have a Southwest Mississippi Narcotics Enforcement Unit officer come to a future work session or meeting and demonstrate how much 30 grams actually is.
Told of the source of Hill’s ordinance, Cameron said, “I don’t want to do anything that Jackson does.”
Hill pointed out that at one time Cameron’s business, a liquor store, would have been illegal in the United States, and he claimed officers have more problems with drinkers they’ve pulled over than pot smokers.
He also pointed to the disparity among members of different races being arrested for marijuana — with African-Americans being more likely to go to jail for marijuana possession — and equated incarceration to slavery.
“I’m not trying to promote smoking marijuana,” Hill said. “I just want us to stop hassling our citizens ... If someone is smoking in their own home, what’s the problem?”
McKenzie noted that decriminalizing a first offense possession charge and making it a ticketable offense is not the same as legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
“What this does is take off the table being put in an institution,” McKenzie said. “They could still go to jail if they do not comply with the court. I wouldn’t just give a ticket over and over. This is for first offense.”
Hill agreed, saying, “There should never be no cap on anything.”
The chief told Selectman Shawn Williams that a ticket for marijuana would remain on someone’s record as any other offense would. “Once it’s there, it’s there,” he said.
Selectman Devante Johnson asked if marijuana is a growing problem in the city, and whether it needed to be urgently addressed.
McKenzie described marijuana use and offenses in the area as steady, and said police need to address all problems in their power.
“I’m not going to say this will fix the problem” of marijuana, McKenzie said. “This won’t fix the use problem, but it can keep people out of jail so they can keep working and pay their fines.”
