The nation moves ever so slightly closer to the legalization of those potent plants.

A city council panel concerned with public safety in Washington D.C. this morning reached a unanimous decision to decriminalize the use of less than an ounce of marijuana. The offense is no comparable to a parking ticket, or walking through the cars of a moving train in New York City, and the fines may be as low as $25.

According to the committee’s chairman Tommy Wells, one of the main goals of the passed bill was to address the fact that an unfair proportion of blacks to non-blacks were being affected by the criminal nature of the marijuana possession offense. According to him, “This is a social justice bill that addresses disproportionate impact”.

On the heels of Colorado becoming the first state to completely legalize the sale and use of marijuana, New York State governor Andrew Cuomo has also thrown his support behind limited legal use of the herb.

-Khari Nixon (@KingVanGogh)