BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge Metro Council has approved a proposal to reduce the penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana in the parish.

Wednesday, the council voted 8-4 in favor of the motion to amend penalties, meaning anyone caught with less than 14g of marijuana likely won't get jail time. You could still face a fine ranging anywhere from $40 to $100 depending on the number of previous offenses, according to the Advocate.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul spoke favorably of the amendment, saying his officers would be able to spend more of their time fighting violent crime rather than those drug offenses. However, he added that officers would still have the option to revert to state law, which is unaffected by the council's decision.