Okay Californians, Johnny Law is serious this time!
If you get caught with up to an ounce of marijuana, you’ll be in big trouble. In fact, you can get fined as much as $100. No kidding!
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law on Friday that reduces possession of that amount of weed from a misdemeanor to an infraction. So if you’ve got enough on you to make three or four joints, then you’re going to get into as much trouble as you would if the California Highway Patrol gave you a speeding ticket.
(More on TIME.com: See pictures of cannabis culture.)
Legislators say the bill will help clear court system bottlenecks and facilitate jury trials rather than prosecute people for something Schwarzenegger called an “infraction in name only.”
Still on the ballot for November, however, is Proposition 19, which would legalize recreational use of marijuana, making even the fine for possession moot, null and void.