OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The City of Oshkosh is changing penalties for marijuana.
A 6-1 city council vote lowered the fine from $200 to $75 for any adult caught with under 25 grams of marijuana.
Councilman Aaron Wojciechowski was initially pushing for full decriminalization, but says that’s not quite as easy as it sounds.
“You have ideas of what you want to do and what you want to get done, and then when you actually get in the office you discover what actually you can do and can’t do,” Wojciechowski told WTAQ News. “When I first started this conversation, I wanted to fully decriminalize it as much as we could. We looked at other communities like Madison that had kind of taken a step further…It’s a little more complicated when you’re actually are trying to change laws and ordinances. Some things are just of our power…Right now I don’t see myself or anyone else making any drastic changes. I really do think the big change is going to have to come from the state or the federal level.”
So for now, Wojciechowski says he’s fine with the new penalties and hopes to see how things work out.
“Obviously I would love to see it at $1, but we’ve got to take steps. It’s not the end of the conversation, I think it’s the beginning,” Wojciechowski said. “I’m happy to make that compromise. We lowered it to be consistent with open intoxicant fines.”
Some constituents did step up and voice concerns over lowering the fine. Wojciechowski says those worries are valid points in the debate.
“Their main concern was that we were encouraging people to use it, especially younger people or children. You obviously want to make sure they’re not using it, and I think some people did have some concerns that lowering this would encourage that,” Wojciechowski said.
You can learn more about the city’s ordinances on their website.
