On August 5, the New Orleans City Council approved Ordinance 33,328 to decriminalize cannabis possession within the city. Previously, the Criminal Justice Committee unanimously approved this ordinance for a full city council review and vote. This ordinance is meant to help reduce the workload on the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) and let them focus on more important tasks, such as the recent spike in violent crime. Additionally, under this ordinance, the city would automatically pardon roughly 10,000 convictions and pending cases.

Individual cities don’t have the power to legalize recreational cannabis. Only the state legislature has that power. However, cities do have the power to offer and create decriminalization measures within city limits. That’s exactly what New Orleans did, and is now the first city in the country to do so. 

Ordinance

Ordinance 33,328 prospectively and retrospectively pardons all cannabis charges. This means all previous convictions, as well as all future convictions, will automatically receive a pardon, even before they happen. This means any future charges someone may face, like possession, will become pardoned automoatically before the ticket becomes written. This is a way the city is hoping to combat racial disparities. 

“We must begin to rethink the historical practices that have over-incarcerated, over-fined, and stigmatized our communities for decades,” said Council President Helena Moreno. “The time to end the criminalization of cannabis possession is now. I’m proud of what this City Council has accomplished today. This is historic.”

Other council members agree with Council President Moreno. 

“For far too long, the scales of who is punished and who is allowed to benefit from the production, sale, and use of cannabis have been off-balance and favored certain races and classes of people over others. A reexamination of the policies implemented during the war on drugs makes it painfully clear that the strategy was over-aggressive and misguided. Today’s vote is a great first step to stem the impacts of that negative legacy and begin the work of repairing those who have lost their lives and livelihood,”said Council Vice President Donna M. Glapion.

Future

Change is coming to the whole state of Louisiana, not just New Orleans. August 1 saw decriminalization efforts take effect for the entire state. This is a welcomed change after a recreational cannabis legalization bill died during this year’s regular session. There is hope that pressure from cities like New Orleans, who have enacted decriminalization efforts, will push lawmakers to debate and pass legalization bills.

For those in New Orleans, it is still illegal to smoke cannabis in public. Anyone caught doing so will be found breaking the Smoke-Free Air Act and will be fined accordingly. However, this is not a drug charge, but simply a fine.

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