CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – A Charleston City Council committee is considering sending a bill to the full council to either lower criminal penalties for marijuana or put it to a public vote on the November ballot.

During a meeting of the Council’s Ordinance and Rules Committee, a city bill, No. 8043 was put to a vote. The committee members discussed the different aspects of the bill relating to charges, other offenses not related to marijuana or other drug possessions, the amount of marijuana in the person’s possession, substance abuse programs, expungements, etc.

The committee voted to bring a committee substitute bill to the table at their next meeting to clarify some of those aspects through amendments to the bill.

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The bill was introduced to the Council on July 1. If it passes the committee and the Council, it will become an ordinance. If not, the bill heads to the November ballot where Charleston voters will decide its fate.

“We’ve talked to so many passionate people who couldn’t sign the petition, too, so I feel really confident that these are changes people want to see,” said petition volunteer Corey Zinn. “A lot of people think this is already the law. We’ve got to stop wasting taxpayers’ money in the courts on these charges and update our cannabis policies to protect the people that they hurt the most.”

If approved by the council or at the polls, the Sensible Marijuana Ordinance would create a new city code for simple possession of marijuana, in which the penalties would be as minimal as the State of West Virginia allows. The bill says this would remove jail time, court fees and fines for any adult arrested for possessing cannabis in Charleston.

According to Charleston Can’t Wait volunteers, the Charleston Police Department made 178 arrests for simple possession of cannabis in 2023, making it the seventh-most common reason for arrests in the city.

City Charter (Sec. 89) allows residents of Charleston to introduce ordinances or amendments to the ballot by petition. The Charter requires that petition to receive a number of signatures equal to 10% of the votes cast in the city’s last municipal election. For the 2024 general election, that minimum number was 1,518 written signatures. According to the Committee, Charleston Can’t Wait volunteers collected approximately 4,309 signatures between April 2022 and June 2024, and at least 2,028 of those count as “qualified signatures.”

1959 was the last year a ballot initiative was submitted to Charleston.

The committee also reviewed another simple possession bill, Bill No. 8039, which would amend the Municipal Code to make the first offense of simple possession of marijuana and related substances a “non-jailable” offense. That bill will also be getting a committee substitute during the next Ordinance and Rules Committee meeting.

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