Marijuana decriminalization, legalization for medicinal use, endorsed by Clarksville City Council

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The City Council backed statewide decriminalization of marijuana use Thursday night, while adding support for full legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The initial resolution, sponsored by Trisha Butler, expressed the council’s support for the statewide decriminalization of marijuana and encouraged both the district attorney and Clarksville Police Department to make simple possession and casual exchange “the lowest enforcement priority.”

The amended version removed sections directed toward the DA and CPD while adding language to support full legalization for medicinal purposes.

It passed 9-1 with 3 abstentions. The single no vote came from Mayor Joe Pitts, while Wallace Redd, Travis Holleman and Stacey Streetman abstained.

Abstentions

In her comments, Streetman suggested that views such as those expressed in the resolution should be communicated to state lawmakers personally rather than through legislation.

“As elected officials, we need to let our elected officials know how we feel. We actually all had that opportunity, just like every taxpayer does in this area. I ran into Rep. (Curtis) Johnson this morning, which would have given me full opportunity to tell him anything I though we needed. I ran into Senator (Bill) Powers this morning, same thing,” Streetman said on Thursday. “We have spent a large amount of time just tonight discussing this. … I will be abstaining on this so that I can put my attention on things we can actually have an effect on.”

Holleman expressed similar views, adding his belief that the issue was adequately handled through the city’s legislative liaison agenda, which listed decriminalization through referendum as an “item of interest” for the city.

“If we are talking about state and federal levels, I could load this agenda up with 100 different items,” Holleman said. “We’ve already taken care of this to a degree, and that’s the reason why I’m abstaining.”

However, both Streetman and Holleman voted in March in favor of a resolution designating Clarksville a “Second Amendment sanctuary city” and expressing the sense of the council in opposition to gun restrictions.

Both council members did abstain from voting on two sense of the council resolutions in October. One expressed opposition to presidential COVID-19 vaccine mandates; the other requested a special session of the state General Assembly on COVID-19.

Wallace Redd, who also abstained on the marijuana resolution, said ownership of stock in certain companies could constitute a conflict of interest for him.

‘It’s for our city’

DaJuan Little said decriminalization is a local issue.

“It’s been said plenty of times that we need to worry about what’s going on in Clarksville. This affects people in Clarksville. This has to do with our people too,” said Little. “It’s for our city, that we were elected to serve and help. People experience this, they’re in the system because of it. It ruins people’s lives. What’s wrong with showing support to a certain group of people who are left out a lot?”

Butler added that she doesn’t believe the Legislative Liaison agenda is good enough.

“Clarksville needs this. It’s not symbolic. It’s precedential,” Butler said. “I don’t appreciate this being suppressed as unimportant. This is extremely important, particularly to the people that it does affect.”