Philadelphia Mayor Calls for Marijuana Legalization
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has come out in support of legalizing marijuana.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney.
“The real solution to this is legalizing it in the state of Pennsylvania as they did in Colorado,” said Mayor Kenney earlier today. “We won’t have to use police resources in these kinds of activities and actions.”
The comment came as Kenney was responding to questions about a Saturday raid on a marijuana “smokeasy”. According to police, 22 people were taken into custody following an investigation of “large-scale marijuana sales”. During the questioning Kenney said “It’s clearly illegal to sell in those quantities”, but noted that there’s “another way” to go about the situation, “as opposed to the amount of resources that were put into this, especially considering our ongoing relationship with that community”..
In Philadelphia, thanks to a law that took effect in 2014, possessing up to 30 grams of cannabis is a $25 fine rather than an arrestable offense. On the state level, possessing up to 30 grams of cannabis in Pennsylvania is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail.
