“The City Council has the discretion to enforce those laws within their border, and they can say ‘we’re not going to enforce them,'” Kemp said.

That doesn't mean Cedar Falls Police Chief Jeff Olson thinks it's a good idea.

"From a policing standpoint, if a state law says marijuana is illegal, that’s something I need to enforce," Olson said. “If the City Council were to ask me as a majority to not enforce that, that would be pretty difficult to do.”

Still, Taiber sees decriminalization as a modest step in the right direction.

“I believe in personal choice — medical or recreational — as long as that choice doesn’t infringe on the rights and liberties of another,” Taiber writes in his blog. “Why does it matter if someone chooses to use cannabis for medicinal or recreational benefit? At what point did we rationalize criminal statutes as the only way to treat this perceived problem? What are the benefits of and consequences of prohibition 2.0?”

The nation continues to grapple with questions like these from state to state and city to city. Gov. Terry Branstad and the Legislature dipped a toe in the pool when the state legalized a type of cannabis oil extract for limited medical use this year.