North Dakota just quietly became the 25th state to decriminalize weed.
As Marijuana Moment and advocacy group NORML have pointed out, a bill decriminalizing marijuana was signed into law last week. For whatever reason, this happened with little-to-no media coverage.
This is by no means legalization for North Dakota residents, but the penalties for possession are far less. Moving forward, first-time possession up to a half an ounce is no long classified as a criminal demeanor. Instead, a minor infraction like this would carry a fine instead of jail time.
One Redditor points out that full legalization has been on North Dakota’s ballot multiple times. Some believe the decriminalization is an effort to stall or sway the push for legalization.
This comes days after Denver decriminalized magic mushrooms. Being the first state to legalize marijuana, Colorado has always been ahead of the rest.
Source: Vox