Philadelphia City Council Votes to Decriminalize Marijuana

If signed into law, the bill would allow Philadelphia police to issue $25 tickets for possession of up to an ounce of weed.

By Dan McQuade | June 19, 2014 at 4:45 pm


[UPDATE: 4:40 p.m.] According to Councilman Jim Kenney’s director of legislation, Jim Engler, as per the Philadelphia Charter, Mayor Nutter does not have to take action on the just-passed marijuana decriminalization bill until Council is back in session in September. (The mayor has the option to sign or veto the bill, or do nothing which would also result in the bill becoming law without his official endorsement.)

“We’re writing a letter to the mayor asking him, since the voice of council has been heard and the bill has been approved by more than 12 members, that he begin implementing the bill and policy change as soon as possible,” says Engler.

The bill includes a three-month time period before it becomes law, which Engler says is something that is normally done with bills that require implementation. "Instead of waiting and twiddling our thumbs all summer long, we're asking that if he's going to make a decision one way or another, he should let us know now."

You can breathe a little easier today, stoners, and not just because you probably are into vaping now. Philadelphia City Council voted today to decriminalize the possession of up to an ounce of weed. Even the heaviest stoners rarely buy more than an ounce at a time, so this bill is good news for Philadelphia potheads from the casual smoker to the wake-and-bake stoner.

The bill was first introduced by Councilman Jim Kenney in May. Under Kenney's bill, Philadelphians caught with up to an ounce (30 grams) of marijuana would not be arrested. After they paid a $25 fine, they'd have the charge expunged from their record. (Presumably, their weed would also be confiscated.) Since June 2010, Philadelphia has treated possession of up to an ounce of weed as a summary offense punishable with a $200 fine and a three-hour class on drug abuse.

"After discussions with Philadelphia’s criminal justice stakeholders, my requests to end mandatory custodial arrests — i.e. handcuffs and a night in jail — were deemed an 'administrative burden' on our courts and police,” Kenney told NBC10.com in May. “Public officials shouldn’t be worried about ‘administrative burdens’ when our inaction is senselessly burdening over 4,000 people with life-changing criminal records each year.”

Two Republican members of City Council, Dennis O’Brien and David Oh, spoke out against the bill. O'Brien suggested the law could eventually lead to “assaults on police officers.”

Philadelphia's decriminalization bill is similar to Washington D.C.'s, which passed last month. In testimony before City Council earlier this month, NORML's Chris Goldstein noted blacks were arrested at five times the rates of whites for marijuana possession in 2012. People aged 18 to 34 made up 75 percent of marijuana arrests that year.

In a 2011 Daily News story, DA Seth Williams said before 2010 the city was "spending thousands of dollars for when someone possessed $10 or $15 worth of weed." (In that article, ex-DA Lynne Abraham said potheads are committing "untold numbers of crimes" to support their habit and compared smoking weed to driving 100 miles per hour.)

The bill passed, 13-3. Mayor Nutter's office has said he opposes the bill. The bill passed with enough votes to override a potential mayoral veto.

http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/06/19/philadelphia-city-council-votes-decriminalize-marijuana/

If only other States followed examples like that. Y should the cops waste time chasing around ppl who hav a couple of grams on them its so stupid! Im surprise since with all the stuff happening in Colorado and Washignton State that States r not going quicker to a hands off approach I live in NYS and there still arguing about Medical Marijuana! still! Hate da Polotics in this Country! Safer then Alcohol!! hopefully only time will tell how things change or move forward! The damn politicians should know ppl r in favor of change and a hands off approach! Well c! Hopefully that passes in Philly!

in other news, o'brien has expressed what he calls undisputable facts that masturbation causes blindness, the earth is flat and that witchcraft was responsible for hurricane sandy.

they should take (C)unts like this and force feed them an entire cherry bomb, lock them in a dark room for 48 hours and let them reexamine the root causes of their foolishness! if they survive,

does philly do anything that ain't low budget?

u get a 200$ fine if u get caught with weed in chicago heights (if their cops dont kill u)

The "Rocky" sequels were pretty high budget .

LMAO..

Say it with me "Adriannne!!"

Yo, Sonny. I did it!

FF, I don't get some of these government chuckleheads,have they learned nothing from prohibition?

Philly Mob, Excommunicated by Pope Francis?

Happy Halloween


http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/article_baa18e2a-5f82-11df-9d74-001cc4c03286.html

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/041901/news.mob.shtml

http://articles.philly.com/2012-01-30/news/31006010_1_mob-boss-angelo-bruno-angelo-lutz

NNY78-

Yes, today is the 25th anniversary of Skinny Joey dressed up as Batman gunning down Nicky Scarfo Jr. at dante and Luigi's in South Philly. Look where both men are at now in life 25 years later.....Scarfo Jr may spend the rest of his natural life in prison and Skinny Joey has spent a majority of his life in prison and is now under constant FBI scrutiny.

Not to sound like a fan boy of joey.. but 25 years later joey clearly on top.. its yet to be seen if joey does more time besides the violation.. but joey ended ne s carfo power. He made jr look like a lil bitch chase him away jr basically got made into the luchesse be cuz of his dad relationship wit Vic.. jr got demoted. Joey basically been the face of Philly the last 20 years. And u forget daunte moltisante these guys chose this life they wanted to be gangsters 25 years ago there gangsters today. Not to say jr isn't smart at all he is.. but this attempted hit 25 years ago put joey on the Map as a top dawg. If joey spends the rest of his life outta jail besides the violation joey Fed comes uo on top. It kills little nicky Sr. That joey in control of the family and how joey embarrassed them and he can't do jack bout it.. so. This solidify joey

You have guys blowing Merlino, massaging his ego, praising him as a mastermind and bigging him up as the cerebral boss of Philly and simultaneously CRITICISING the Feds for not LEAVING HIM ALONE and SCRUTINISING him too much. Even though he was still UNDER PAROLE when he was surveilled blatantly (and stupidly) violating it by meeting with known felons and even though he refuses to report his lavish income which he blatantly (and stupidly) flaunts.

I mean if people can't see the irony and hypocrisy of that, then I give up.

Do people understand how parole works?

The dwarf could at least have waited a few weeks or months for his restrictions to end before the groundswell of opposition to a tame prison sentence started.

Interesting new Philly mob chart

http://mafia.wikia.com/wiki/Philadelphia_crime_family

Sorry I'm not to techy to figure out how to post the picture of the chart on here

I know its was stupid to meet in public or even them meeting at all but the Feds violate wise guys all the time. Sometimes on the last week of you can't beat the feds just try and stay a few moves ahead

youre best to just ignore Moe. By being on the "opposite" end of the spectrum (dwarf, stupidly) you're giving as much energy as the fan boys. ignore, ignore, ignore. if everyone ignores pretty soon its a convo of 5 fanboys agreeing. why bicker back and forth. no one ever gives in or changes their perspective. all it does is make these pages longer and longer.

fuckem, hes just another criminal going back to jail to me. is it fucked up he will get followed forever regardless of criminal activity or not? sure, but when you have the history he does there's no one to blame but himself.

Good advice.

Give up what? Has that been your end game here all along? To get people to renounce the Mafia and stop glorifying criminals?

You can't change other people, Moe. It's not possible.

Just a heads up, don't click on the chart itself for any reason, its got a virus attached to it according to my antivirus software.

And to defend myself cuz I feel the finger pointing in my direction I'm not glorifying anything joey did or ne thing I'm giving an opinion like how some ppl say gotti was a bad boss or chin and gambino were the best giving an opinion the previous poster who posted before me said where r these guys 25 years later.. and I was comparing Nicky Jr to Merlino and acorse Merlino is a tougher gangster.. for joey to beat murder raps and other charges and to do the stuff he did and basically for now get away it is crazy to me.. When Stand a tried to hit Merlino Merlino retaliated wit the expressway shooting.. Nicky Jr was in the Luchesse family and never retaliated against joey sounds like joey had him scared shitless had the scarfos on the run that's my opinion.. joey has more balls then some NY guys that's for sure.. So its my humble option halloween 89 put joey on the map. No glorification we r comparing gangsters and mafia members this is a mafia message board... ps. Dont join the mafia

I don't think that at all, Buddy. I think you're fairly level headed when it comes to this stuff.

But as far as this goes:


That stuff all preceded Scarfo Jr. getting made by the Luccheses, and none of it happened in New York. Because balls or no balls, if Merlino pulled that shit back in the late '80s or early '90s, when New York still resembled Canada and Sicily (as far as violence went), and if he pulled it here, you'd be posting about the 25th anniversary of his execution instead of a failed mob hit.

I also think that Joey went away at the right time (2001-2002, right?). That's right around the time the violence was seriously curbed. And I'm not implying that Scarfo Jr. isn't afraid of Merlino. I don't know him from a hole in the wall. He probably is scared of him. But if he had gotten his button in Jersey under one of the Taccettas, or even the Pernas, and he got popped AFTER he got his button, then Joey Merlino would have had a problem than he couldn't have handled.

And I hope you're taking notice that I'm using the Jersey branch of the Luccheses as the example here. If I brought up the Bronx or Harlem factions of that family I'd probably sound like a "homer." And if you know me at all, you know I really hate that shit.

PB is 100% correct. Forget jersey, NY would have immediately gave the order-approval to have Merlino killed and he would have been gone. I'm a jersey guy but jersey does whatever the guys up in the bronx and westchester tell them to do.
Merlino can do time and has balls, no doubt. that said, if he was in new york, no one would ever even know who he was, thats a fact. He is a very big fish in a small pond. Although i do give him credit, he is stand up all the way.

I would b scared of a guy that shot me 5 times on Halloweenight...no matter how many years ago! Scarfo jr.is lucky to b alive never mind the trouble he is in.

You know if you say that 5 times and turn around, PB will appear in the mirror. Freaky.

And he will even do a little dance for ya

What makes you guys so sure merlino would have gotten clipped if he was in new york...didnt john gotti kill the don and lived to tell about it?

Merlino didn't have a power base like Gotti did. Like PB said, if some young kid tried that crap in NYC I have no doubt either he would have been popped quick.

It would be like Gotti Jr. trying to make a power play while his Dad was still a Capo and expecting to live. Just my two cents.

Oh see now that's just silly.

Merlino seems capable of being moderately successful regardless of the family he belongs too. He is tough and has a way of attracting a following of criminals. But he definitely wouldn't be much of a shotcaller in NYC.

how accurate is that chart?