Photo Credit: Payton (Flickr CC)
The Village of Shorewood is considering reducing the fine for possession of a small amount of marijuana to $1, thanks to a bill introduced to the Village Board by Trustee Tammy Bockhorst. “I proposed this bill because it is the right thing to do, lives can get destroyed because of a small amount of marijuana for personal use,” Tammy Bockhorst says.
Despite state and federal law, municipal ordinances can greatly influence the enforcement of cannabis prohibition; many cases never make it to a district attorney if local laws are passed to lighten punishment. Instead of facing prison time, massive fines (up to $10,000 under Wisconsin law), a mark on their permanent record and a potential felony conviction, small-time marijuana users can end up with a simple fine.
Currently, first-time offenders in Shorewood must pay $250 to the city ($376 with surcharges), and they can have to pay more than $1,000 for third and subsequent offenses. That fine might be reduced to $1 (up to roughly $60 with surcharges, according to the Journal Sentinel), thanks to Bockhorst’s bill. “We can’t legalize at a local level, but we can do everything in our power to reduce the injustices caused by these antiquated criminalization practices,” she explains.
Decriminalization Ordinances are a New But Popular Trend
The decriminalization bill was initially presented and rejected by the Shorewood Village Board last summer. The advisory referenda on marijuana legalization last November garnered nearly 80% of the vote in favor of marijuana legalization in Shorewood, which led to the board agreeing to have the bill reintroduced.
The referenda have helped legislation advance in other places as well: Just a few weeks after voting indicated that 54% of those in Eau Claire County were in favor of legalization, the Eau Claire City Council introduced a bill to decriminalize cannabis possession, which served as an inspiration to Shorewood’s own bill. Under the new resolution in Eau Claire, fines for possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana (on a first offense) decreased from $100-$500 to $1.
Other Wisconsin municipalities have been relaxing penalties against marijuana users. In 2015, Steven’s Point cut its fine for first offenders to $100 and Milwaukee cut its fine to $50. In 1977, Madison had already removed all penalties for possession at home. Other cities in Wisconsin have wildly varying local legislation about cannabis possession, with fines ranging from $1 to several thousand dollars.
Bockhorst—who is also president of the board of directors of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities—plans to use her position to help advance this issue in other cities, statewide and nationally, through meetings and lobbying efforts.
“Across the state, a vast majority of people support recreational use of marijuana,” she says. “It is an issue that transcends all socioeconomic and partisan barriers. The court of public opinion is overwhelmingly in support of marijuana reform.”
