The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico passed a marijuana decriminalization measure this week. The measure was passed by the Santa Fe City Council after activists gathered enough signatures. The Santa Fe City Council had the option to defer and place the measure on the next election’s ballot, but chose to vote on, and pass, the decriminalization measure. New Mexico’s Attorney General, who is also a candidate for Governor, said that he is OK with the reform and would not stop it from being implemented. Per the Albuquerque Journal:
Attorney General Gary King supports decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana and his office has no plans to challenge Santa Fe’s brand new ordinance that does just that.
“The city of Santa Fe definitely has the authority to enact its own ordinance, but beyond that I don’t think it would come under the purview of the Attorney General’s Office,” said Phil Sisneros, spokesman for King.
I tip my hat to Mr. King for making the right decision with his comments. I’m hopeful that once people see that the sky didn’t fall after decriminalization, and that police are actually freed up more to investigate real crimes, that the entire State of New Mexico will demand marijuana reform. I hope activists don’t stop at decriminalization, and keep fighting until full legalization is achieved.
