New Orleans’ marijuana decriminalization ordinance goes into effect today

by: 10 Comments

The New Orleans Police Department will be begin enforcing the city’s new marijuana ordinance today. In accordance with the law, which was unanimously passed by the City Council earlier this year, most marijuana possession violations will result in a summons and a fine of $40-$100.

NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison clarified the new rules in a press conference earlier this week. According to NOLA.com, he explained that the new law applies to anyone over the age of 17 that is carrying less than 2.5 pounds of marijuana.

However, officers will still be able to arrest people if they believe they are distributing marijuana, and they will still be able to make possession arrests under certain circumstances using state law. Arrests made under state law will need to be approved by a supervisor, and officers are instructed to issue a municipal summons unless the suspect is in a drug-free zone (near schools, churches, etc.) or is being arrested on other state charges,

The changes only apply to the NOPD, who are predominantly governed by municipal law. State Police officers, who have a heavy presence in the French Quarter, confirmed that they will still make all of their arrests under the much stricter state laws, which can include jail time.

Nevertheless, Harrison said that most marijuana possession violations will result in a summons and fine. He also said that police will monitor how the law is enforced to make sure it being applied fairly.

The fairness issue was particularly important to many city council members during their deliberations earlier this year. On Monday, Councilmember Jason Williams told the New Orleans Advocate, “sometimes police policy in different municipalities can be different in high-crime areas.” He added that the council needs know that marijuana violations are “being treated the same way in every community regardless of statistics.”

Still, marijuana reform activists that advocated for the law were happy to hear the new ordinance—which was endorsed by a number of local musicians—is going into effect as planned.

“CommonSense NOLA welcomes the new changes the city council has enacted,” CommonSense NOLA President Kevin Caldwell told OffBeat. “We believe that these fines represent the values of the community, and we look forward to a day in which prohibition is no longer an impediment to citizen/police relations.”