A big push is happening to change the laws for people caught with marijuana in Kansas City.
There was a bit of show and tell at Wednesday's neighborhoods and public safety committee hearing as KCPD Deputy Chief Karl Oakman demonstrated what 35 grams of marijuana looks like to council members.
The street value of the bag of pot was $525, according to police.
Under current city law, if you get caught with 35 grams or less of marijuana you face jail time and up to a $500 fine.
But under a proposed ordinance that may go on the ballot, the jail time goes out the window and the max fine would be $25.
This initiative is the brainchild of the Kansas City chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML KC).
"In May, we started collecting signatures from Kansas Citians through different events throughout the summer," Jamie Kacz, executive director of NORML KC said.
According to city statistics, more than one thousand people were charged in Kansas City municipal court each year for marijuana possession between 2012 and 2016.
"Lower class and minorities are the ones that are affected the most by these harsh laws," Kacz told the committee. "Furthermore non-violent offenses put unnecessary stress on our judicial system, families and communities and those resources can be better spent."
However, parents like Joseph Jackson don't believe reducing penalties is for the better.
"It does not help in the community, it hurts our community and it's a huge disparity between $25 that I'm gonna get for a simple possession and a $150 ticket for turning out of the wrong lane," Jackson said.
The city said fines stemming from pot possession charges isn't a big money maker.
Just 11 days ago new rules went into effect in Missouri to lessen the fine. Instead of going to jail for your first offense, if you are caught with 10 grams of marijuana or less, you will pay a $500 dollar fine.
Wednesday's morning the committee decided to hold the proposal for another week to have the city's health department weigh-in on the issue.
"I'm hoping we'll be able to address issues further and that we're to provide them some information that can help with their concerns that will be able to move with this," Kacz said.
If the city council doesn't vote on this issue next week it won't go on the April ballot.
Instead, the next goal would be the August election.
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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
