Charm City Gets More Charming: Baltimore To Stop Prosecuting All Cannabis Possession

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced on Tuesday that her office will no longer prosecute people for cannabis possession. Though cannabis is decriminalized in Maryland, the move follows mounting evidence that black citizens are far more likely to be arrested than anyone else. Mosby indicated that regardless of the amount of marijuana taken or the criminal history of the accused, she would be focussing on more important matters.

Real public safety priorities

“When I ask myself: Is the enforcement and prosecution of marijuana possession making us safer as a city? The answer is emphatically ‘no,’” Mosby said at The Center For Urban Families in West Baltimore.

The city of Baltimore had 349 homicides in 2017, and Mosby believes it’s a waste of the city’s money: “No one thinks spending resources to jail people for marijuana is a good use of our limited time and resources.”

Chipping away at racist policies

She would also like to see the courts vacate the nearly 5,000 cannabis possession convictions already on the books. With Maryland currently looking to expand its medical program, and recreational shops already open elsewhere on the east coast, one could argue that Mosby is simply trying to end years of racist practices that have decimated Baltimore and many other cities. Splimm would believe that argument.

Mosby’s decision is a reflection of her history as a prosecutor. Since 2014, 88 percent of all marijuana possession cases have been dropped. Interim police commissioner and former DEA agent Gary Tuggle, however, promised to keep being kind of a dick about things. He stated that “Baltimore Police will continue to make arrests for illegal marijuana possession unless and until the state legislature changes the law regarding marijuana possession.”

Tuggle was unclear if this means Baltimore police will continue to arrest black people at a rate six times higher than white people for the same crime, or if they’ll try to get closer to the national average of four to one. Even though everyone loves weed the same.