Posted on 05/15/2015 2:00:47 PM PDT by BBell
A proposal to reduce marijuana penalties for those convicted multiple times of possessing pot cleared the House floor Wednesday (May 13) in the Louisiana Legislature.
Current law allows for someone to be sentenced up to 20 years in prison for getting convicted three or more times with as little as one joint. Among the changes proposed in the legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans, is a reduction of the maximum penalty from 20 years to eight.
"It starts chipping away at Louisiana being the incarceration capital of the world," Badon said from the House floor, after his bill passed.
The legislation now heads to the Senate after the House voted 53-36 to advance it.
The legislation, (HB 149), drops the maximum sentence for second-offense marijuana possession from five years in prison to two years. It would also drop the maximum sentence for third-offense possession from 20 years to five. Subsequent convictions could allow for a maximum sentence up to eight years.
Under current law, a first-time offender could be jailed up to six months -- that sentence would stay the same under Badon's proposal.
Fines would be also be reduced. Maximum fines for second offenses would be reduced from $2,000 to $500; and for subsequent offenses from $5,000 to $2,000.
The bill could save taxpayers approximately $12 million over five years in incarceration costs, Badon said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
We really should not be filling our prisons up and wasting our tax payer money on long sentences for weed smokers.
Frankly, the current penalties are Draconian harsh, and the proposed penalties are Draconian harsh.
A huge portion of people in prison are there for violation of drug laws.I would rather see drug addicts get treatment than imprisonment. End the WOD now.
Eight years is still absurd.
But, but, but, the pro-WOD (war on drugs) folks here always tell us that nobody is in jail for simple possession.
Putting people in jail for being in possession of some leafy plant material seems like pure insanity to me. Guess I’m not “conservative” enough.
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Marijuana law reform gets noticed in West Texas
State Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, filed House Bill 2165, which would allow possession and sale of the plant, making Texas laws similar to those of Colorado, Washington and Alaska. The bill was approved by a House Committee last week and is expected to go before the full House before the end of the session.
http://www.mrt.com/news/politics/article_45750d8c-f92b-11e4-8313-8b5b225c3a29.html
I was going to say that. With a sarcasm tag.
They have invented and currently make pot that has no THC, the component that is regulated by law.
So what now? Seems like it renders the argument moot.
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