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Texas activists announced on Wednesday that they\u2019ve collected more than enough signatures to qualify a marijuana decriminalization initiative for the local ballot in San Marcos.<\/p>\n
This is the latest development in an activist-led push that\u2019s seen Austin voters approve the cannabis policy change<\/a> in the state\u2019s capital last month and signatures submitted to qualify similar decriminalization measures for local ballots in November in three additional cities in recent weeks.<\/p>\n Now, advocates with the progressive group Ground Game Texas, as well as the criminal justice reform organization Mano Amiga, say they\u2019ve collected more than 10,000 signatures to place the issue before San Marcos voters during the upcoming midterm election.<\/p>\n The campaign already pre-verified 4,500 of those signatures, so they\u2019re especially confident it will qualify because that exceeds the 4,182 valid signatures they need to make the cut.<\/p>\n We now look to City Council to ensure San Martians, in a true democratic fashion, have the opportunity to approve the Reeferendum at the ballot box in November.<\/p>\n This is another clear demonstration that when we organize, we win.<\/p>\n See y\u2019all tomorrow!<\/p>\n \u2014 Mano Amiga SMTX (@ManoAmigaSM) May 31, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cFor too long, San Marcos residents have faced the undue burden of legal troubles, financial hardship, and even incarceration for low-level marijuana offenses,\u201d Julie Oliver, executive director of Ground Game Texas, said<\/a> in a press release.\u00a0\u201cGround Game Texas and Mano Amiga are proud to give voters in San Marcos the opportunity to reform local marijuana laws on the November ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n This is a continuation of an activist-led effort to enact cannabis policy reform one city at a time since there is no process for citizens to put initiatives on the statewide ballot.<\/p>\n Sam Benavides, communications director with Mano Amiga, said that the organization \u201chas been overwhelmed with the amount of community members and local businesses that helped make this the biggest ballot initiative this city has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to have something on the ballot that young people will be excited to vote on, thus drastically increasing voter turnout and civic engagement,\u201d Benavides said.<\/p>\n City officials will need to formally authorize that the signatures are valid to ensure that the measure reaches the ballot.<\/p>\n City Councilmember Alyssa Garza also weighed in on the ballot initiative, saying that \u201cclearly, a substantial portion of the San Marcos electorate has spoken and it is now the duty of City Council to afford voters the opportunity to approve it at the ballot box in November.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is true democracy from the ground up, and I\u2019m here for it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Austin voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to decriminalize marijuana<\/a>, in addition to banning no-knock warrants by police, at the local level last month. That was also the product of Ground Game Texas\u2019s campaign work.<\/p>\n Just about a week ago, the group said activists amassed enough signatures to put a decriminalization proposal before voters in Killeen<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, activists recently announced that it has collected enough signatures to place cannabis decriminalization on the November ballot<\/a>\u00a0in Denton.<\/p>\n Also, the organization said last week that it \u201csubmitted hundreds of signatures to decriminalize marijuana possession in Elgin,\u201d and a City Council vote to formally place it on the local ballot there is scheduled for June 7.<\/p>\n Ground Game Texas and other advocates are also actively working to put marijuana decriminalization on the local ballot in Harker Heights.<\/p>\n \u2014 \u00a0<\/p>\n While localized, the success of the signature gathering and votes that have taken place so far under the leadership of activists shows a strong desire to move away from marijuana criminalization in the Lone Star state.<\/p>\n On the same day that the Austin reform initiative was certified for ballot access earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said that\u00a0he doesn\u2019t believe people should be incarcerated<\/a>\u00a0over low-level marijuana possession. However, he misstated state statute on decriminalization, suggesting that the policy is already in place.<\/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 ordinances that Ground Game Texas and other activists have been pursuing go further.<\/p>\n The San Marcos ordinance<\/a>\u00a0would make it so police could not issue citations or make arrests for class A and B misdemeanor marijuana possession offenses, with limited exceptions such as if the violation connected to an investigation into a felony-level narcotics case.<\/p>\n Also, the measure says police cannot issue citations for residue or paraphernalia in lieu of a possession charge. And they could not use the odor of cannabis alone as probable cause for a search or seizure.<\/p>\n There is no statewide, citizen-led initiative process that would enable advocates to put an issue like marijuana 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. A separate survey released this month\u00a0found that cannabis legalization is more popular in Texas<\/a>\u00a0than the state\u2019s top elected officials and President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n Drug policy reform did advance in the state 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\u00a0support making cannabis legal \u201cfor any use.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Separately, the state Supreme Court\u00a0heard testimony in March<\/a>\u00a0in a case concerning the state\u2019s ban on manufacturing smokable hemp products\u2014the latest development in a drawn-out legal battle on the policy first proposed and challenged in 2020.<\/p>\n Oregon Officials\u2019 Rejection Of Rules For Spiritual And Religious Psilocybin Use Called Into Question<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Texas Activists Say They Collected Enough Signatures To Put Marijuana Decriminalization On Another City Ballot<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Texas activists announced on Wednesday that they\u2019ve collected more than enough signatures to qualify a marijuana decriminalization initiative for the local ballot in San Marcos. This is the latest development in an activist-led push that\u2019s seen Austin voters approve the cannabis policy change in the state\u2019s capital last month andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":54984,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54983"}],"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=54983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54985,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54983\/revisions\/54985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Texas Activists Say They Collected Enough Signatures To Put Marijuana Decriminalization On Another City Ballot<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"