The Washington D.C. Council moved towards decriminalizing marijuana in the district to allow the possession of small amounts of marijuana to be legal raising concerns from Washington's mayor and police chief about widespread smoking of marijuana in public, according to NBC News.

Currently, 17 states in the United States have decriminalized personal marijuana use in some form or other, NBC reported. Mayor Vincent Gray wrote in a letter to the District of Columbia Council that Tuesday's bill doesn't establish enough deterrents to public smoking.

The decriminalization bill was passed Tuesday but will still face another Council vote before being signed into law by Mayor Gray, according to NBC.

The bill would make possession of less than one ounce of marijuana a civil offense, lowering the current penalty to a $25 fine for possessing and $100 fine for smoking marijuana in public, a fine Gray says can be ignored, according to NBC.

The new proposal would keep offenders from facing criminal charges, NBC reported. The new proposal would also reduce the jail time for marijuana to 60 days instead of six months.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier said she is concerned about the possibility of "open-air drug markets," NBC reported. Smoking marijuana in public places would still be illegal under the new proposal, but council members say such a lenient proposal would be sending a mixed messages.

"My sense is, while citizens don't like the criminal penalties associated with it, they also want to continue prohibition in public," said Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, NBC reported.

Though the American Civil Liberties Union have opposed police being allowed to use the smell of marijuana as probable cause to search someone's home and car, the new proposal does not address that issue, according to NBC.

Yvette Alexander, a councilmember in D.C. who voted against the new bill proposal, said if the council is going to pass such a measure, they might as well legalize recreational marijuana, something she also opposes, NBC reported.

"It really doesn't make sense to the general public,'' Alexander said, according to NBC, "it looks like everybody's on board, so let's have a smoke-in with the council.''