Atlanta Ord. 17-O-1152 (2017) — The $75 Decriminalization

Last verified: May 2026

What the Ordinance Did

Atlanta City Ordinance 17-O-1152 reduced the city-court penalty for possession of one ounce or less inside the City of Atlanta only from a possible six months in jail and a $1,000 fine (under state law O.C.G.A. § 16-13-2(b)) to:

• A maximum $75 fine.
• No jail time.
• No arrest record.

The Vote

The Atlanta City Council passed the ordinance unanimously on October 2, 2017. Mayor Kasim Reed signed it on October 10, 2017. The vote and signature came after months of public debate about racial-disparity arrests in Atlanta and across Georgia.

Council Member Kwanza Hall

Kwanza Hall, then representing District 2 (Inman Park, Old Fourth Ward, Cabbagetown, Reynoldstown, and surrounding neighborhoods), was the ordinance’s sponsor. Hall later briefly served as U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District (December 2020–January 2021, completing the term of the late Rep. John Lewis). His sponsorship of Ordinance 17-O-1152 was rooted in the Black-political-class civil-rights tradition that has shaped Atlanta governance.

The Racial-Disparity Frame

NORML reported that the change, in context of "over 30,000 Georgians" arrested annually for marijuana possession at that time, was driven explicitly by racial-disparity concerns. Hall cited during the 2017 debate the statistic that Black residents made up about 76% of those incarcerated for marijuana offenses in Georgia compared with 21% of white Georgians — a stark disparity that the ACLU’s subsequent 2020 report (~2.96× statewide arrest disparity, racial-disparity page) would document in further detail.

Atlanta Hip-Hop Public Support

Atlanta hip-hop voices including 2 Chainz, Big Boi (of OutKast), and Killer Mike publicly applauded the vote. The cultural endorsement reflected the broader Atlanta hip-hop community’s longtime cannabis-policy advocacy: 2 Chainz’s "Pink Trap House" cultural project; Killer Mike’s civil-rights and policy activism; the OutKast / Dungeon Family Atlanta hip-hop legacy. See Atlanta hip-hop page.

State Law Preempts — The Officer-Discretion Reality

Important caveat: the ordinance applies only to Atlanta Police Department charging within Atlanta city limits. Georgia State Patrol troopers and Fulton County / DeKalb County sheriff’s deputies operating within Atlanta retain authority to charge under state law (O.C.G.A. § 16-13-2(b)). Atlanta Police Department’s 2017 implementation training, led by Capt. Alexander Tobar, expressly emphasized that officer discretion was retained: APD officers may continue to charge under state law in their discretion.

In practice, Atlanta possession arrests post-2017 have decreased materially, but state-law charging remains available. A traffic stop on I-75/I-85 within city limits, or a DUI investigation, or any state-trooper-initiated stop within Atlanta can still produce a state misdemeanor charge.

The Subsequent Wave of Georgia Decriminalization Ordinances

Atlanta’s 2017 ordinance was the model for 15+ subsequent Georgia jurisdictions:

• Forest Park (2018), South Fulton (March 2018), Savannah (March 2018), Kingsland (2018), Statesboro (December 2018), Macon-Bibb (2019), Augusta (August 2019), Chamblee (2019), Tybee Island (2021), Fulton County unincorporated (2021), Stonecrest (August 2022), Athens-Clarke County (August 2022, $35 fine — lowest in GA), East Point (December 2023), Doraville (2025).

The full table is on the city-ordinances page.

What Atlanta Decrim Did NOT Do

The 2017 ordinance:

• Did not legalize cannabis in Atlanta — possession remains a state misdemeanor; the ordinance reduces only city-court charging.
• Did not remove the mandatory 180-day driver’s license suspension under O.C.G.A. § 40-5-75 if the case is charged under state law.
• Did not bind Georgia State Patrol or county sheriff’s offices.
• Did not apply to felony quantities (1 oz+), PWID, cultivation, or trafficking.
• Did not retroactively expunge prior cannabis convictions.

The Long Tail

Atlanta’s 2017 ordinance was the first Georgia local decriminalization ordinance and remains the model for the broader patchwork. Combined with Fulton DA Fani Willis’s and DeKalb DA Sherry Boston’s declination practices on low-level possession, the cumulative effect within metro Atlanta is substantially softer enforcement than in the rest of Georgia — though state-law charging remains available across all jurisdictions.