How to Use decriminalize in a Sentence

decriminalize

verb
  • In recent months, the city and state of New York have moved to decriminalize prostitution.
    Stephen Engelberg, ProPublica, 3 May 2021
  • This appealed to many on the left, and his promise to decriminalize marijuana use attracted libertarians.
    Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 14 May 2021
  • Before street vending was decriminalized in L.A., Tunay said the city used to come and throw away all her food.
    Angie Orellana Hernandez, Los Angeles Times, 23 Dec. 2023
  • Measure 110, a first-of-its-kind law in the country, decriminalized small amounts of street drugs – like heroin and methamphetamine – in Oregon.
    Ncrombie, oregonlive, 9 June 2023
  • Still, the Legislature has made no moves to decriminalize the drug over the course of Abbott’s two terms in office.
    Cayla Harris, San Antonio Express-News, 4 Mar. 2022
  • Denver was the first to decriminalize entheogens, making the move in 2019.
    Emma Stein, Detroit Free Press, 7 Nov. 2021
  • On the opinion pages Now is the time for Utah to decriminalize marijuana, writes Robert Gehrke.
    Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune, 19 July 2021
  • The bill is one of a number introduced recently to decriminalize and tax the drug.
    Chelsey Cox, USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2022
  • Earlier this month the U.S. House passed a bill that would decriminalize the substance, but the measure is not expected to pass in the Senate.
    Kaitlin Lange, The Indianapolis Star, 20 Apr. 2022
  • Portugal was one of the first countries to decriminalize all drugs in Europe in 2001.
    Dario Sabaghi, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2021
  • Waldron emphasized that her bill would not decriminalize psychedelics and that no one would be treated by psychedelics if passed.
    Anabel Sosa, Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2024
  • The measure will decriminalize possession of up to 4 ounces of marijuana in the city.
    Annie Blanks, San Antonio Express-News, 8 Nov. 2022
  • The House recently passed a bill to decriminalize marijuana, and another bill that would legalize the plant is in the works in the Senate.
    Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY, 20 Apr. 2022
  • Most notably, Thailand became the first country in Asia to decriminalize cannabis last year, with cannabis cafes and smoke shops quickly popping up across the country.
    Jessie Yeung, CNN, 28 Feb. 2023
  • The state of California even has a measure on the 2022 ballot that would decriminalize psychedelic medicine in the state.
    Lindsey Bartlett, Forbes, 18 Jan. 2022
  • The governor of Oregon has declared an emergency in the city of Portland a few years after the state became the first in the nation to largely decriminalize drug use.
    Adam Yamaguchi, CBS News, 31 Jan. 2024
  • In January 2023, the western province became the first in Canada to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs.
    Dominique Soguel, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 July 2024
  • And for anyone who doesn’t happen to have a friend who knows a guy who grows mushrooms and wants to share, decriminalizing psychedelics won’t do much to expand access on its own, either.
    Oshan Jarow, Vox, 21 July 2024
  • The only one that even got a hearing would have decriminalized possession of up to two ounces of marijuana.
    Brittany Carloni, The Indianapolis Star, 11 Jan. 2024
  • This increase in calls happened just as Denver voters passed a ballot measure to become the first city to decriminalize in May 2019.
    Rita Farah, The Conversation, 14 June 2024
  • It’s been a rough year for cannabis company stocks, even as more states in the US move to legalize or decriminalize marijuana.
    Carmen Reinicke, Fortune, 20 Apr. 2023
  • Earlier this week, Hawaii’s governor, Josh Green, announced his plans to become the next state to decriminalize the strips.
    Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 June 2023
  • In 2020, Oregon was the first state to legalize psilocybin and decriminalize all drugs.
    Iris Dorbian, Forbes, 10 Nov. 2022
  • Then in 2021, a movement to decriminalize cruising began to take root in National City.
    Salvador Hernandez, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2023
  • Last year Thailand became the first country in Asia to decriminalize cannabis following years of campaigning by activists on the ground.
    Heather Chen, CNN, 25 Apr. 2023
  • Thailand has become the first Asian country to decriminalize non-recreational use of cannabis.
    Naazneen Karmali, Forbes, 6 July 2022
  • On Thursday, Thailand became the first country in Asia to decriminalize the use of marijuana and hemp.
    Tristan Bove, Fortune, 9 June 2022
  • Last year and again this year, state lawmakers proposed a bill that would decriminalize trespassing if people were within 10 feet of the most recent high tide.
    BostonGlobe.com, 15 Oct. 2021
  • Colombia was one of the first countries in the world to decriminalize euthanasia, and one of only a small number — alongside Belgium and the Netherlands — to extend the right to non-terminal patients.
    Washington Post, 10 Oct. 2021
  • Oregon on Monday re-criminalized some of the drugs that voters had decriminalized just three years earlier, with Gov. Tina Kotek signing into law a bill making possession of small quantities of some hard drugs a misdemeanor.
    Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 1 Apr. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'decriminalize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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