Hacker News Reader

Comment by darawk | Hacker News Reader

Huh? Decriminalization would be the state declaring that possessing Psilocybin is not illegal under state law. Directing law enforcement to de-prioritize it is not the same thing.

View on HN

Decriminalize is not equivalent to legalize as generally used. For example [1] titled "14 states have decriminalized — but not legalized — marijuana"

Do you have a better word for localities whom do not have the authority to make something legal to effectively do so by directing law enforcement and prosecutors to not pursue a certain offense?

https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/8/20/17938358/marijuana-...

> Decriminalization would be the state declaring that possessing Psilocybin is not illegal under state law

No, that'd be outright legalization.

"Decriminalization" would be instructing law enforcement to not ever enforce a law - stronger than deprioritizing, but weaker than legalizing.

It could also include not explicitly criminalizing or legalizing something (that is: Denver could simply not mention psychedelic mushrooms at all), but in this case there's already a higher-level jurisdiction (i.e. the United States) that does explicitly criminalize it, so a lack of specificity would in this case just mean criminalization.

What's the difference between ignoring a law and deleting it?

A city can't delete a federal law. A city can tell its police department(s) to ignore a federal law (in the sense that it's physically and logically possible, not in the sense of it actually being legal; I'm not sure if the federal government has the power to compel local police forces to enforce federal laws).

Local police are not required to enforce federal law, essentially. They can, if they want -- it's the highest law in the land -- but the obligation is on the Federal Gov to enforce their own laws, hence the FBI, DEA, ATF, etc.

"Decriminalizing" just means the local police will not enforce the law as written, and if the state or Feddy'Gov doesn't like it then they can send state troopers or DEA agents to hang out on every block in Denver to make sure the law gets followed and shroomers get nailed. Contrary to popular belief, the FBI and DEA don't have unlimited resources, and have bigger fish to fry... so nothing happens most of the time.

In the event the local Denver cops do nail you with shrooms, instead of enforcing the law they'll nail you with a fine or something. No idea what the CO State Troopers are up to, or if they'll be acting in Denver against the decrim bill.

Decriminalization means that the lowest misdemeanor is replaced by a civil citation or confiscation.

You might still have to pay a fine like a traffic ticket, but it's not a criminal charge or an arrest.

It's also still illegal to purchase but you won't be charged for doing so.

How does this work if someone on for example a green card got caught and cited for possession? Since it’s still a violation of controlled substances act would it affect a citizenship application?

Yes, federal law applies for immigrants.

To add a bit more - there are no city/county criminal laws in the United States, only state and federal. But we have Federal, State, City, and County law enforcement officers. So Denver is working to de-prioritize/“decriminalize” for in-city law enforcement officers. I imagine state police and federal officers would not pay too much attention to this if it goes through.

Also, a city has no ability to decriminalize something, as that would have to be done by the state legislature or a statewide vote. So this is really not “decriminalizing” at all... the initiative itself uses the word “deprioritize”: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bb4f9c27046803ce123a...

Edit: word choice.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com