The Wichita City Council voted 5-2 Tuesday to amend city code that will remove fentanyl test strips as drug paraphernalia and will not prosecute someone for possession of under 32 grams of marijuana.
Despite the council's vote, possession of either the test strips or marijuana is still against state and federal law.
The city says by amending this portion of code, it will eliminate around 750 cases from the municipal court system. Prosecution would then by handled by the county. However, in an appearance by Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett, he said the county does not have the ability to absorb the additional court cases.
The two "no" votes came from Council members Bryan Frye and Becky Tuttle, who both said that the two parts of the ordinance change should have been voted on separately. Substitute motions to do just that failed.
The ordinance change will go through a second reading at a later date.





