Denver’s City Council moved closer this week to lessening marijuana offenses for people between the ages of 18 and 21 as part of a series of measures to be enacted when recreational pot is legalized across the state next month.

The Council initially approved decriminalization for 18- to 21-year-olds who possess an ounce or less of marijuana, though fines are still applicable. Currently, anyone between the ages of 18 and 21 could face up to one year in jail, plus fines. “This in no way is making it legal for these young people to possess or consume marijuana,” councilman Albus Brooks said, according to the Denver Post. “What it does do is make it so that these kids don’t have to live into adulthood with mistakes they might have made when they were 19.”

The newspaper says the Council measure “imposes fines that increase from $150 for the first offense to $500 for the second offense and $999 for the third and any subsequent offense.” Anyone younger than 18 who is caught with marijuana can be sent to Denver’s juvenile assessment center.

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