Philadelphia Marijuana Bust - An issue that has been in the talk of the media and legislation for a while now worldwide is marijuana or cannabis and the decriminalization of it. To possess it is already a problem and is criminalized in USA.
But Philadelphia has taken a step further on the subject and yesterday, October 1st, they have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana. An article was written by the Philadelphia Magazine, which already starts off saying, "Starting October 20th, possession of small amounts of marijuana will be a civil offense in the city of Philadelphia."
They also clear out that it's not written in the law, but now the possession of cannabis can be worked out by paying small fines. This only stands for the possession of 30 grams or less. If a person possesses more than that quantity, then the criminalization works just in the same way like it used to.
The values of the fines are the following: if there is an effective possession of 30 grams or less, then the person will be fined and cited, paying $25 dollars.
If a person is seen smoking in public, then he/she will be fined and cited, paying a quantity of $100 dollars; either that, or to perform community service for an allotted time of nine hours.
Then, an important information shared in the same article is, "Thirty grams is just a little over an ounce; most pot smokers make purchases of only an eighth of an ounce or less at once."
This means that Philadelphia is definitely taking a Marijuana bust, in a way. The Philadelphia Government has also announced in their Twitter account, to be completely clear about the changes, that a person can still be arrested for selling or distributing marijuana, possessing more than 30 grams or lacking the ID. It is a must to show ID at all times.
And to close up matters, The Philadelphia Government went as far as sharing the video of the conference where the marijuana decriminalization was discussed and talked by Mayor Nutter.
This fact makes "Philadelphia the largest city in USA to decriminalize marijuana," as The Huffington Post noted, or the largest city to provide a bust for it.