Trying to take care of as much business as possible before a new, possibly more conservative commission takes office next year, Athens-Clarke County commissioners pushed through almost 40 agenda items during an epic, nearly six-hour meeting last week.
The commission passed a bike-lane pilot project on Prince Avenue; accepted a clean energy plan; hired a consultant to create an affordable housing strategy; made permanent the downtown âparkletâ program created during the pandemic allowing restaurants to use street parking as outdoor dining areas; issued bonds for the Classic Center arena; approved an apartment development on the parking lot behind the Bottleworks; and tabled a request for a frat house in Cobbham. Any of those might have been the lead story in any given week, but not this weekâbecause the commission also passed an ordinance decriminalizing marijuana and a resolution shielding residents from strict abortion laws. And boy, do people have questions.
Is marijuana legal now?
No. What the ordinance does is create a parallel local law where the penalty for possession of less than one ounce is a $35 fine.Â
Why $35?
Commissioners originally wanted to make the fine $1, but County Attorney Judd Drake told them that citations carry various state-mandated fees totalling $34, so the fine became $35.
So, if itâs just a ticket, the cops canât arrest me?
Technically, they could. But ACCPD hasnât been arresting people for marijuana possession since 2019, when the state legalized hemp, because field tests canât differentiate between legal hemp and illegal marijuana. In addition, local prosecutors have stopped bringing charges in such cases. Still, it probably wouldnât be wise to walk up to a cop and blow clouds in their face.
Itâs also important to note that the ordinance doesnât apply to other law enforcement agencies, like University of Georgia police or Georgia State Patrol.Â
What does this mean for my job?
Employers can still require drug tests and fire employees who test positive. Likewise, the ordinance has no impact on any discipline students might face, whether K-12 or at UGA.
Why canât Athens-Clarke County just legalize it?
Because Peter Tosh isnât the mayor. Kidding aside, local governments canât nullify state and federal laws. They can decide not to enforce them, though, which is what ACC is doing in this case, and with abortion.
Right. About thatâwhatâs the status of abortion in Athens?
Itâs whatever the state law says, and currently that means most abortions are banned after six weeks. However, the resolution the commission passed prohibits the local government from collecting or sharing any information on abortions or miscarriages, and instructs the county manager to make enforcing abortion laws the lowest possible priority. Separately, District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez has also said she wonât expend any resources prosecuting abortions.Â
Is Athens the first place thatâs done this?
No. Officials in Atlanta and Savannah have said police wonât investigate now-criminalized abortions, and district attorneys in the circuits for Atlanta (Dekalb and Fulton counties), Savannah and Augusta have also said they wonât press charges in such cases. At least nine other Georgia cities have reduced penalties for marijuana possession, including Atlanta, Savannah, Macon and several metro Atlanta suburbs, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Did everyone vote for it?
The abortion resolution passed unanimously, but Commissioner Ovita Thornton voted against cannabis decriminalization, stating that she believes marijuana is a gateway drug, and she didnât think there had been enough community engagement.
ZĂșñiga vs. Edwards
Occasionally there are commission meetings where the surrealist theater makes onlookers feel like theyâre on drugs, and the Aug. 2 meeting was one of those. Public comment went on for nearly two hours. Tears were shed. Bible verses were quoted. Fingers were snapped. Dubious facts were shared. (Did you know LSD is stored in the wisdom teeth?)
The most dramatic moments, though, involved the last speaker of the eveningâformer mayoral candidate Mara ZĂșñiga, who revealed that she is an anti-vaxxer and compared wearing a mask to pregnancy.
âYou mention something about human rights in the [reproductive rights] resolution and my rights for my body. Well, Iâll tell you, I donât want vaccines in my body. Itâs my body; I donât want it.
âThis is the other thing I donât want,â ZĂșñiga continued as she put a surgical mask on her face. âThis [the mask] is attached to me like some people say you have the attachment of an embryo. I also donât want this. So please write in your resolution that this is my body, and I am aborting this mask.â She then took the mask off and threw it behind the rail onto the floor.
Two hours later, during commissionersâ discussion on the abortion resolution, Commissioner Russell Edwards had an equally incendiary rebuke for ZĂșñiga.
âTo have a member of the public who previously ran for mayor come to the podium, proudly claim that sheâs unvaccinated during a public health pandemic, and then throw off her mask onto the ground for, I guess, somebody to pick upââan outraged Edwards then left his seat, picked up ZĂșñigaâs discarded mask and threw it in the trashââI mean, how freakinâ crazy and stupid was that?
âI appreciate all of the public who came here tonight and spoke from the podium, but not that one person,â Edwards said, âwho threw garbage behind the rail. Letâs have some standards of decency in this democracy.â
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