Like many communities across the United States, the City of Memphis is grappling with new legislation related to the decriminalization of certain amounts of marijuana, and a recent ordinance was passed to allow Memphis police to issue a fine to any person found with a half-ounce or less of the substance.
Ordinances such as these are popping up throughout the country as part of a larger effort to limit incarceration rates resulting from possession of small amounts of marijuana, thus freeing up law enforcement and criminal justice resources to have greater capacity to focus on what many believe are more dangerous drug-related issues.
But according to the Tennessee Attorney General, the Memphis ordinance may be illegal and may impede the efforts of local Drug Endorsement Agencies (DEAs) across the state. Currently, Memphis officials are struggling with the legality of this issue, and the city council will be revisiting the ordinance soon. But in spite of the current conflict of opinion, Memphis City Councilman, Berlin Boyd, and Shelby County Commissioner, Van Turner, are confident that the ordinance will be upheld, with Boyd stating, “As far as I am concerned, it’s still the law in the eyes of the City of Memphis, because we passed an ordinance and that means the ordinance is law,” Turner agreed and stated his evaluation of the DA’s position as “These are just opinions and there’s been no court of law to render the Memphis ordinance unconstitutional.”
Proponents of ordinances like the Memphis statute described above support efforts to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, citing public health crises, such as the current opioid epidemic, as more deserving of law enforcement and public health officials’ attention. Yet throughout Tennessee and across the nation, marijuana use continues to spur controversy, and as laws related to the drug continue to evolve, communities are grappling with opposing interests and opinions that can make passing new legislation or amending old laws a difficult process.
An important factor in the current marijuana debate is related to confusion around the drug’s capacity to become a substance of abuse. And while it is certainly true that marijuana affects the brain and body differently than other drugs like alcohol or opioids, marijuana can still result in a chemical dependence that can bring on a host of damaging effects. This is due to the fact that, while the chemicals found naturally in cannabis do not illicit the same response in the brain as highly addictive substances such as nicotine, the use of the substance can result in a behavioral dependence as one uses more of the drug and seeks it out more often.
