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As medical marijuana clinics prepare to begin serving patients in the District, two D.C. Council members are working on a bill to lessen the penalties for people without a prescription caught with small amounts of pot.

Councilmembers Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who will officially enter the race for mayor on Saturday, are working on the decriminalization legislation. The Washington Post’s Tim Craig has the story:

“Absolutely, it’s time we look at decriminalization of marijuana in the District of Columbia,” said Wells, who is running for mayor next year. “It’s time we enter the 21st century and stop criminalizing people . . . for what is not really a major crime.”

Wells and Barry said they will introduce a bill as early as this summer. Meanwhile, Anita Bonds (D-At Large) also is considering a measure to decriminalize marijuana or reduce penalties for possession. The initiatives would be debated by Wells’s committee.

Washingtonians are overwhelmingly in favor of this plan. A recent poll commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance showed that “75 percent of D.C. residents support making the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine, instead of the current penalty of up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.”

Marijuana possession arrests in D.C. have increased over the past decade, with nearly 4,300 arrests made in 2011 as opposed to 2,150 in 2001. While Barry’s and Wells’ bill would certainly offer assistance to Washingtonians who want to indulge without fearing arrest, it will likely not assist D.C. dinner party hosts who struggle with proper pot smoking etiquette.