Mobile city officials are weighing whether to make low-level marijuana arrests a simple ticketed offense, following the same tactics by other Alabama cities like Birmingham and Tuscalooa.

While there is no ordinance under consideration, the city’s public safety department is working on a proposal that would give the Mobile Police Department the discretion to issue tickets for 2nd degree possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

City officials emphasize that the proposal is not a “decriminalization” of marijuana within Mobile’s city boundaries.

“A proposed ordinance would allow MPD officers to issue citations for simple marijuana and paraphernalia possession (which are labeled as misdemeanors only),” said Jason Johnson, spokesperson with the City of Mobile.

He added, “This wouldn’t charge the penalty or make it not a crime; it could just prevent officers from being required to make custodial arrests in a very limited set of circumstances.”

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s administration first considered a similar approach in 2017. The mayor opted, at the time, to remove the offenses from the proposed ordinance after the mayor’s office discussed the issue further with state law enforcement officials.

The approval of HB13 last year – which allows municipalities the authority to issue a summons and complaint in lieu of arrest for low-level marijuana offense – allows the issue to be addressed by local governments, Johnson said.

The administration’s Department of Public Safety, Legal Department and Municipal Court have been working on crafting an ordinance.

Council President C.J. Small and Council Vice President Gina Gregory said the council has not seen an ordinance nor is one pending for approval. Johnson said that an ordinance could be forthcoming in the “next couple of weeks.”

Small said that medical marijuana is legal in Alabama, and “pretty much legal across the United States.” More than 40 states have legalized medical marijuana, and 23 states have decriminalized cannabis for adult use. Another 18 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for recreational use.

“This should be something as simple as a ticket instead of going to jail,” Small said. “To me, it’s just a waste of time and taxpayers’ money. A simple ticket is good enough.”

According to city’s Municipal Court, there were close to 1,500 of simple possession of marijuana cases before them in 2021 and 2022, and 750 drug paraphernalia cases during those two years. The number of cases does not reflect whether defendants were facing additional charges.

The comments from city officials come after the Alabama Cannabis Coalition, in a news release early Monday, stated it fully supported “decriminalization” of marijuana in the City of Mobile. The statement said the action by the city comes “in light of the most recent operation” by the Mobile County Sheriff’s Department to arrest people for marijuana use.

Sheriff Paul Burch said the city’s decisions will not affect the county sheriff’s enforcement of marijuana laws.

His agency announced on March 12, the startup of Operational Up in Smoke, a riff on the 1978 cult classic movie, “Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke,” which celebrates the recreational marijuana use.

“We can only enforce state law,” Burch said, noting that marijuana possession is a criminal offense in Alabama and has not been legalized federally. “We have no authority on city ordinances and how they handle their municipal business. But my stance remains that it’s against the law in the state of Alabama … we’ll enforce the law because I’m a law and order sheriff.”

Operational Up in Smoke came about after authorities are witnessing more open use of marijuana in public. In a news release last month, circumstances were cited – during Mardi Gras and at grocery stores and all major shopping centers.

“If you choose to consume marijuana in the confines of your home, and we do not condone that you do, that is a risk you choose to take,” Burch said in the news release introducing Operation Up in Smoke. “This operation is about the public outcry of others who do not wish to participate or expose their families to illegal drugs. This purposeful disregard for obeying the law will not be tolerated in Mobile County.”

H. Marty Schelper, founder and president with the Alabama Cannabis Coalition, said prior action by the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa city councils to enforce low-level marijuana offenses through ticketing and not arrests illustrates that “it doesn’t appear that the sky is falling in either of those municipalities, for that matter, anywhere across the United States.”

“We look forward to stating that not two but three municipalities in the State of Alabama have passed decriminalization ordinances,” Schelper said.

In Tuscaloosa, Police Chief Brent Blankley said the new approach, authorized by the council in 2022, has allowed officers to spend “less time processing minor offense and more time answering calls and proactive patrolling.” He said the move has been “good for everybody.”

“Every arrest takes an officer off the street for an average of two hours – so every ticket we’ve written represents two hours an officer was available to respond to emergencies or engage in proactive policing,” Blankley said in a statement to AL.com. “I’d rather have officers present in the community than tied up doing paperwork for a low-level offense.”