Tennessee’s city of Nashville will no longer be prosecuting people for having a possession of less than a half an ounce of marijuana.
The Nashville District Attorney’s Office said that eliminating minor marijuana charges will lower costs for jail housing, courts and clerk’s offices. The resources used to prosecute these charges will be allocated to supporting victims and prosecuting violent crime.
“Marijuana charges do little to promote public health, and even less to promote public safety,” District Attorney Glenn Funk said this week. “Demographic statistics indicate that these charges impact minorities in a disproportionate manner. This policy will eliminate this area of disproportionately in the justice system.”
Nashville Mayor John Cooper said in a statement that he supports the change in policy.
“I support the DA’s decision to stop prosecuting minor marijuana offenses in Davidson County. We need to continue working to ensure that people have access to drug treatment and that we are doing everything we can to keep nonviolent young people out of the criminal justice system,” Cooper said.
It was in 2019 that Tennessee Bureau of Investigation sent a memo to law enforcement across the state which said testing in marijuana cases will “only be performed on felony amounts of plant material and at the District Attorney’s request if needed for trial.”
The Nashville People’s Budget Coalition said Funk’s decision could be a beginning of meaningful change, but they want to see more.
“While the district attorney is attempting to show good effort, we also want to go further,” said Erica Perry, with the coalition. “Can you decriminalize and stop prosecuting sex workers? Can you stop prosecuting any amount of drugs? That is important.”
