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Austin, Texas voters will have a chance decide on a ballot initiative to locally decriminalize marijuana, city officials announced on Monday.<\/p>\n
Ground Game Texas, an organization working to advance progressive causes including cannabis reform, said it turned in more than 33,000 signatures<\/a> for the measure\u2014about 10,000 more than required to qualify for the May 7 election. The city clerk\u2019s office said that, according to its internal review of the validity of the submissions, \u201cthe petition is determined to be sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n The group also told Marijuana Moment on Monday that they will be launching signature campaigns for cannabis decriminalization initiatives in Killeen and Harker Heights this month, and activists in San Marcos began a similar campaign in September. Those three efforts are aimed at putting marijuana reform before voters in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Austin, as well as other Texas cities like Dallas, have already independently enacted law enforcement policy changes aimed at reducing arrests for cannabis-related offenses by issuing citations and summons, the new Austin Freedom Act would take the reform a step further.<\/p>\n The initiative seeks to end arrests and citations for misdemeanor marijuana possession within Texas\u2019s capital city. Also, it says police cannot issue citations for residue or paraphernalia in lieu of a possession charge.<\/p>\n Under the initiative, the execution of no-knock warrants would also be prohibited in the city\u2014a\u00a0policy that generated significant national attention<\/a> in 2020 after it led to Kentucky officers entering Breonna Taylor\u2019s apartment and fatally shooting her in a botched drug raid.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re so proud of the tremendous work of our organizers and volunteers who secured more than 30,000 signatures to put progressive change on the ballot in Austin,\u201d Mike Siegel, political director of Ground Game Texas, said<\/a> in a press release. \u201cWith the certification of the Austin Freedom Act, voters in Austin will soon have the ability to use their vote to end the criminalization of cannabis in their community and eliminate the dangerous practice of no-knock warrants by Austin police.\u201d<\/p>\n Legislating by initiative is a rare opportunity for direct democracy in Texas.@GroundGameTX<\/a> has a half dozen more initiatives ready to launch in the days ahead. <\/p>\n We\u2019re engaging new voters with progressive policy. Please support if you can! https:\/\/t.co\/r2RVluEFXB<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mike Siegel (@SiegelForTexas) January 10, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The\u00a0measure<\/a>\u00a0would further prohibit the use of city funds to request or test cannabis to determine whether it meets the state\u2019s definition of a lawful product. Hemp is legal in the state, creating complications for law enforcement, as they are now tasked with determining if seized cannabis products are in compliance with state statute.<\/p>\n Game Ground Texas previously attempted to\u00a0place the initiative on the November 2021 ballot<\/a>, but they did not meet the signature turn-in deadline and shifted their attention to 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom day one, Ground Game Texas has said that progressive change starts from the ground up,\u201d Julie Oliver, executive director of Ground Game Texas, said. \u201cIn community after community, we are partnering with local groups to put progress on the ballot, bringing new voters into the fold and mobilizing them to get involved. We\u2019re so proud of the success of the Austin Freedom Act and look forward to launching similar efforts across Texas in the year ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n We did it! Thank you to everyone who helped us collect signatures \u2013 we couldn’t do this work without you. https:\/\/t.co\/TfFwLkcgu5<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Julie Oliver (@JulieOliverTX) January 10, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n While the measure is now set to appear on the May ballot, it\u2019s also possible that the Austin City Council could independently move to adopt the ordinance prior to the election.<\/p>\n \u2014 There is no statewide, citizen-led initiative process that would enable advocates to put an issue like decriminalization or legalization on the Texas ballot. But at the local level, there are limited cases where activists can leverage home rule laws that allow for policy changes.<\/p>\n A recent poll found that a strong majority of Texans\u2014including most Republicans\u2014support even broader reform to legalize marijuana<\/a>\u00a0for adult use.<\/p>\n The survey from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University found that 67 percent of Texas residents back the broad reform. Fifty-one percent of participants who identified as Republican said they back legalization.<\/p>\n In Texas, drug policy reform did advance in the legislature during last year\u2019s session, but not necessarily at the pace that advocates had hoped to see.<\/p>\n A bill to\u00a0expand the state\u2019s medical cannabis program<\/a>\u00a0and another to require a study into\u00a0the therapeutic potential of certain psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0for military veterans were enacted.<\/p>\n Advocates remain disappointed, however, that lawmakers were\u00a0unable to pass more expansive cannabis bills<\/a>\u2014including a decriminalization proposal that cleared the House but saw no action in the Senate.<\/p>\n The\u00a0House approved a cannabis decriminalization bill<\/a>\u00a0in 2019,\u00a0but it did not advance<\/a>\u00a0in the Senate that session.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Texas Republican Party adopted a platform plank<\/a>\u00a0endorsing decriminalization of marijuana possession in 2018.<\/p>\n A Texas poll that was released over the summer found that 60 percent of voters in the state support making cannabis legal \u201cfor any use.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n California Senator Says Bill To Legalize Psychedelics Possession Has \u201950\/50\u2032 Chance To Pass This Year<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Austin Officials Certify Local Marijuana Decriminalization Initiative For May Ballot<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Austin, Texas voters will have a chance decide on a ballot initiative to locally decriminalize marijuana, city officials announced on Monday. Ground Game Texas, an organization working to advance progressive causes including cannabis reform, said it turned in more than 33,000 signatures for the measure\u2014about 10,000 more than required toContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":52218,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52217"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52219,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52217\/revisions\/52219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Austin Officials Certify Local Marijuana Decriminalization Initiative For May Ballot<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"