Politics & Government

Kittleman Sponsors Bill to Ease Marijuana Penalties

The bill would allow police to issue citations to citizens caught with small amounts of marijuana.


Howard County Executive candidate and current Republican state senator Allan Kittleman has co-sponsored a bill that would decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

The bill is scheduled to be read in a Senate committee Wednesday. The bill proposes instituting civil offenses for possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana. 

This would allow police officers to issue citations and fines to citizens caught with small amounts of the drug, rather than force them to appear in court.

Kittleman is co-sponsoring the bill with Baltimore County Democratic senator Bobby Zirkin.

Kittleman told the Howard County Timeshe sponsored the legislation because police officers are spending time going to district court cases for marijuana possession, that could be better spent on more pressing cases.

"There's hours and hours of police time being spent in court," said Kittleman to the paper.

The bill, as currently written, also contains a provision that would allow a judge to order a child caught with small amounts of marijuana to participate in a substance abuse program.
 


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