Story by Aaron Parker
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The petition to the City of Charleston that aims to create a new city code for the simple possession of cannabis will be looked at for the second consecutive week this evening.
Charleston’s Committee on Ordinance & Rules discussed a pair of bills (Bill 8039 and Bill 8043) last Monday that is set out to amend the Municipal Code of the city in relation to punishment for simple possession of marijuana with adults.
Chad Robinson
Bill 8039 proposes to make the first offense of simple possession of marijuana in Charleston a non-jailable offense, while Bill 8043 aims make penalties for misdemeanor marijuana possession the lowest by State Law.
While there was plenty of discussion last Monday regarding the issue, the committee decided it needed more time to get a more workable document to send to full City Council, so the potential ordinance was laid over to today.
It’s important to note, these bills would affect the punishment for adults on the first offense of simple possession, but according to Committee Chairman Chad Robinson, this doesn’t affect charges after the first.
“The second charge and further still stays the same,” Robinson said on 580Live with Dave Allen last week. “There were discussions to take all that out of the language, but my committee decided the simple possession, first charge only, that we would reduce that to court costs and no jail time.”
Robinson said it’s commonsense to relieve the city of costs and effort.
“It’s an approach, number one, save the city some money, save the Municipal Court some time and effort and costs and the jail bills. The jail bills are enormous.”
Robinson said the city’s police officers are busy with other issues and he thinks going forward with the potential ordinance can give them some help.
“Our police are stretched very, very thin, just because our issues with the Regatta and our unhoused downtown,” Robinson said. “I just think our police are stretched way too thin. This hopefully would help them in the future if we can get to a commonsense approach.”
Part of the reason for the recent traction in these bills is the efforts by “Charleston Can’t Wait” volunteers. These volunteers collected roughly 2,000 valid signatures in an effort to change the Charleston City Code for simple marijuana possession charges.
Along with that group, Robinson said citizens are welcome to be a part of this public issue.
“They’re more than welcome to come listen to the committee meeting and listen to the discussion, and there’s always time to sign up for public comments prior to our city council meeting, and that starts at 7,” Robinson said.
The rules and ordinance committee meeting starts at 5:30 while the full city council meeting begins at 7 p.m.