Council expected to vote on First Chance Program for first-time marijuana offenders
Two El Paso city representatives are showing their support for a new program in El Paso County that reduces penalties for some first-time marijuana offenders.
El Paso County Commissioners approved the First Chance Program, but at least one city representative is concerned it may not be the right move.
City representatives Cassandra Hernandez-Brown and Alexsandra Annello placed the item on the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
District Attorney Jaime Esparza is expected to make a presentation to council, explaining how the program works.
Esparza said the program would allow people who are solely caught with marijuana, and have no prior criminal record, to carry out eight hours of community service and pay a fine instead of getting arrested and facing criminal charges.
City Representative Henry Rivera , a former police officer, has his doubts. “If they are adults, which we are really concerned with, they should already know what is right and wrong. State law is state law. No one has rewritten the law to say marijuana is legal just yet,” Rivera said.
Supporters, however, said the move could help the police department, currently facing financial struggles. “We are in dire need of police officers, and if we can allocate our police officers to focus on high priority calls, it would mean that we would have better response times,” Hernandez-Brown said.
ABC-7 will be at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. We will let you know how the vote turns out on KVIA.com and the KVIA ABC-7 Facebook page.
