GREEN BAY - City officials want more information about ordinances is other cities before they act on an alderman’s proposal to reduce penalties for possession of marijuana.

Currently, a person cited for possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana can be fined up to $1,000 and have their driver's license suspended for up to six months.

Alderman Randy Scannell has proposed reducing the maximum fine to $500, eliminating license suspension, and ending a requirement that a possession conviction count as the person’s first drug offense in the state.

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On Monday, Protection and Policy Committee members asked city staff to collect information on what other cities in the state fine offenders, how much people are being fined under current law, and whether the fine is used as leverage in more serious criminal cases.

Eric Bertaud, who previously advocated for Brown County's advisory Nov. 6 referendum on legalizing medical marijuana, was among five proponents of cutting fines to speak at Monday’s meeting. They all asked the committee to even further reduce the fine even further.

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“I’m in support of any step the city would like to take to decriminalize this,” said, a user of medicinal marijuana. “I’d like to see it reduced more, like to $100 or less.”

The Green Bay Police Department is not taking a stance on Scannell’s proposal. Scannell did discuss it with Chief Andrew Smith and Mayor Jim Schmitt this summer, though.

Municipal citations issued by police for possession of marijuana are similar to a parking ticket. Police officers can ask prosecutors to file state misdemeanor or felony charges against someone accused of more serious drug offenses.

The current ordinance also only applies to people with no previous possession of marijuana citations. City staff said that restriction reduces officers’ ability to issue a municipal citation instead of seeking a more serious charge if a circumstance merits only a citation.

If the City Council changes the odinance, Green Bay would join six other Wisconsin cities that have reduce fines for possession in the last three years, according to data from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, short for NORML. Some communities have gone a further step and decriminalized possession of small quantities in your home.

Oshkosh: $200/25 grams, January 2018

Monona: $200/no quantity, May 2017

Madison: $100/10 grams, March 2017

Stevens Point: $100/5 grams, August 2015

Milwaukee: $50/25 grams, June 2015

Kenosha: $750/28 grams, May 2015

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