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A panel of Texas lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday on a bill that would decriminalize marijuana possession, removing the risk of arrest or jail time and allowing individuals to eventually erase the matters from their criminal records.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, the person is given a ticket goes to court, they\u2019re assessed a fine, then the court tells them, \u2018You\u2019ve got six months to pay and you need to stay out of trouble during that time,\u2019\u201d the bill\u2019s sponsor, Rep. Joe Moody (D), explained to colleagues on the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, which he chairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the person does their part, the court dismisses the charges,\u201d the lawmaker continued, \u201cand on a request of the individual, deletes the entire record of it. The person walks away lighter in the wallet but without any criminal record whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The full Texas House of Representatives has already passed similar cannabis decriminalization proposals<\/a> during the past two legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But so far the proposals have consistently stalled in the Senate<\/a> amid opposition from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who presides over the chamber.<\/p>\n The latest bill, HB 218<\/a>, combines two separate measures from the most recent session, both of which passed on the House floor.<\/p>\n \u2014 Nearly 3 in 4 Texas voters (72 percent) support decriminalizing marijuana<\/a>, according to a University of Texas\/Texas Politics Project poll in December. More than half (55 percent), meanwhile, said they\u2019re in favor of broader legalization. Seventeen percent said it shouldn\u2019t be legal at all.<\/p>\n In its current form, the 24-page proposal would make possession of up to one ounce of marijuana or cannabis concentrates a Class C misdemeanor, removing the risk of jail time and instead imposing a maximum fine of $500.\u00a0Existing law classifies possession of small amounts of cannabis as a Class B misdemeanor, which carries penalties of up to 180 days in jail and up to a $2,000 fine.<\/p>\n The bill also specifies that possession of up to two ounces of cannabis would not result in an arrest, meaning violators would be cited and released.\u00a0Further, individuals with possession convictions for up to two ounces of marijuana could seek to have those convictions expunged through a court process for a $30 fee.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be very clear,\u201d Moody said: \u201cThis bill is not legalization.\u201d Instead, he described the proposal as \u201cright-sizing\u201d the penalty for possession of small amounts of cannabis. \u201cRight now we\u2019re arresting and prosecuting people for low-level, personal-use amounts of marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n Moody emphasized that the bill\u2019s major components had already passed out of the House twice before. \u201cThe system that it creates is one that we have worked directly with the governor\u2019s office on the mechanics of how it will work in the real world,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked to the attorneys that will be prosecuting. We\u2019ve talked to frontline law enforcement. We\u2019ve tried to bring everybody to the table to make sure that the system works.\u201d<\/p>\n While the panel didn\u2019t vote on the proposal at Tuesday\u2019s hearing, advocates expect the measure will again win support in the House. Texas NORML said in a recent blog post<\/a> that it expects the bill \u201cwill quickly advance out of the committee.\u201d<\/p>\n This morning we dropped off hearing binders with committee members in advance of the #HB218<\/a> hearing! We anticipate this bill will pass out of committee and encourage you to submit support virtually here: https:\/\/t.co\/RcGdYvzm8b<\/a>#txlege<\/a> #TexasNORML<\/a> #Texas<\/a> #NORML<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/DX0d2UxNyA<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Texas NORML (@TexasNORML) February 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Activists in Texas, where cannabis reforms are hard won and no process exists for citizens to place initiatives on the state ballot, spoke in support of the bill.\u00a0Among those who testified at Tuesday\u2019s hearing were medical marijuana patients, a veteran and a conservative activist.<\/p>\n While one or two requested specific revisions to the bill, all said they supported the overarching effort to scale back penalties for small-scale possession.<\/p>\n An Army veteran who said he uses cannabis to treat PTSD and chronic pain, for example, said that while he\u2019s encouraged his fellow veterans to enroll in the state\u2019s limited medical marijuana program, many still obtain the drug from illegal sources, risking arrest and jail time.<\/p>\n \u201cI want them to be legal, but there\u2019s obstacles,\u201d he said. \u201cThis bill would really help those veterans avoid really adverse consequences in their life.\u201d<\/p>\n Two others, a medical marijuana patient and the wife of a man who uses cannabis as part of his cancer treatment, told lawmakers they\u2019re in constant fear of arrest and prosecution. One of the speakers said she supports the reform but asked lawmakers to go further and remove the bill\u2019s maximum $500 penalty.<\/p>\n Explaining how cannabis had helped her husband survive cancer treatment but also risked landing him in jail, the woman cited Bible passages and implored lawmakers to recognize that cannabis is a gift from God.<\/p>\n \u201cWill we stand in front of our maker on Judgment Day and tell him he was wrong?\u201d she asked. \u201cWe knew better than he did? And we were locking his people up in cages over a plant that he himself put on this earth to help us?\u201d<\/p>\n Others pointed to the obstacles a cannabis conviction can create to education, employment and housing. Jax James, Texas NORML\u2019s executive director, said in written testimony to the committee that a marijuana conviction \u201ccreates a permanent criminal record and carries significant and lasting consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n Those consequences fall disproportionately on young Texans and people of color, James noted. Possession accounts for about 97 percent of marijuana arrests in the state, and nearly half of possession arrests are of individuals of high-school or college age. Moreover, although white Texans saw a 7.6 percent drop in their share of arrests between 2017 and 2021, the state\u2019s Black and Hispanic communities saw increases of 5.9 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, over the same period.<\/p>\n Another speaker at Tuesday\u2019s hearing, Jason Vaughn, who works with the group Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition but testified only on behalf of himself, said the provision preventing police from arrests in possession cases should be removed if it stands in the way of the bill\u2019s passage.<\/p>\n \u201cI like that aspect of the bill,\u201d he clarified, but \u201cI have worked with a lot of our wonderful police officers around the state, and that is the thing that consistently they have told me is a hold up for them.\u201d<\/p>\n The efficiency with which @moodyforelpaso<\/a> and @JimMurphy133<\/a> ran that committee should be a masterclass! #txlege<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jason Vaughn (@JasonVaughn) February 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Also during Tuesday\u2019s hearing, the committee heard a separate proposal, HB 513<\/a>, from Rep. Will Metcalf (R), that would create a standalone felony offense for the manufacture or delivery of a drug causing death or serious injury. \u201cThis enables law enforcement and district attorneys to hold offenders accountable,\u201d Metcalf said.<\/p>\n The bill would apply to any \u201ccontrolled substance or marihuana\u2026regardless of whether the controlled substance or marihuana was used by itself or with another substance, including a drug, adultant, or dilutant,\u201d its text says.<\/p>\n The bill comes amid an ongoing crisis of accidental opioid deaths, which lawmakers said is being exacerbated as the result of drug dealers selling products without disclosing that they contain fentanyl. Some said children in the state had sought out study drugs like Adderall only to receive lookalike products containing fentanyl.<\/p>\n While HB 513 is designed to punish illicit dealers more harshly, it appears the bill may also apply to minors themselves who furnish drugs to their peers secondhand, even without knowing the products contain fentanyl.<\/p>\n As with the cannabis bill, the committee left HB 513 pending at Tuesday\u2019s hearing, holding off action until later this session.<\/p>\n On the local level, meanwhile, activists have succeeded in enacting municipal cannabis reform policies. Most recently, voters in five cities\u2014Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos passed marijuana decriminalization ballot measures in November.<\/p>\n Voters in San Antonio as set to decide on a similar cannabis initiative<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n There has been some resistance to the reforms by local officials in some cities, however, and\u00a0in Harker Heights, activists are working to qualify a ballot measure that would undo the City Council\u2019s repeal of the voter-approved decriminalization initiative<\/a> there.<\/p>\n Advocates are also keeping their eyes on San Marcos, where outgoing district attorney recently made a request that the state attorney general issue a legal opinion on a separate decriminalization initiative that local voters overwhelmingly approved.<\/p>\n Biden Highlights Marijuana Pardons At Black History Month Event<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Texas House Lawmakers Discuss Marijuana Decriminalization Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A panel of Texas lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday on a bill that would decriminalize marijuana possession, removing the risk of arrest or jail time and allowing individuals to eventually erase the matters from their criminal records. \u201cBasically, the person is given a ticket goes to court, they\u2019re assessed a fine,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":62284,"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\/62283"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62285,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62283\/revisions\/62285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Texas House Lawmakers Discuss Marijuana Decriminalization Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"