[caption id=”attachment_121896″ align=”aligncenter” width=”3836″] (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Delaware became the 20th state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana Thursday.
Gov. Jack Markell (D) signed the bill into law Thursday night, the Huffington Post reported. The law takes effect in six months.
Delaware’s new law will remove criminal penalties for an adult in possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use. Possession will now be considered a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine. The sale of marijuana is still banned.
Delaware’s measure was entirely sponsored and pushed through by Democrats. No state Republican senators voted in favor of the bill and no Republican representatives supported it when it passed the House in early June, HuffPo noted.
The District of Columbia and 19 other states have also decriminalized small amounts of the drug in recent years. Marijuana possession in any amount still remains illegal under federal law.
