Voters in the Texas city of Bastrop will decide this fall on how the city should handle low-level marijuana possession crimes. City officials certified last week that a proposed charter amendment campaign secured enough voter signatures to put cannabis decriminalization on the municipality\u2019s November 5 ballot.<\/p>\n
Bastrop\u2019s decriminalization measure is the third such measure certified in Texas cities this month following similar efforts in Dallas<\/a> and Lockhart<\/a>.<\/p>\n Activists in Bastrop submitted signatures in support of the cannabis ballot initiative<\/a> earlier this month. The group Ground Game Texas, which has spearheaded a largely successful local decriminalization push in the state during recent years, announced that advocates had submitted more than 600 signatures for ballot placement. They needed approximately 400 to be validated in order to qualify.<\/p>\n In general, the measures that have already been enacted in\u00a0Austin<\/a>,\u00a0Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos<\/a>\u00a0prevent police from making arrests or issuing citations for Class A or B misdemeanor cannabis possession offenses, unless it\u2019s part of a high priority felony investigation for narcotics or violent crime.<\/p>\n \u201cThe criminalization of marijuana undermines our individual freedoms and limits career opportunities,\u201d said petition leader Desiree Venable, who\u2019s also a Democratic candidate for a state House seat in November.<\/p>\n \u201cThe decriminalization of marijuana is a crucial step toward the criminal justice reform we desperately need and I\u2019m happy to be part of this progress,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Venable is running to unseat incumbent House District 17 Rep. Stan Gerdes (R).<\/p>\n On social media, Venable said she was \u201cLooking forward to bringing more progress & putting more power in the hands of the people when elected!\u201d<\/p>\n The Bastrop city secretary certified<\/a> that activists collected enough signatures for the marijuana petition on July 23.<\/p>\n Marijuana decrim is officially on the Nov ballot in Bastrop! Thank you to @GroundGameTX<\/a>, community members, & city staff involved in the process. Looking forward to bringing more progress & putting more power in the hands of the people when elected! #VenableForTexas<\/a> #cannibis<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Eb5XHIKR6G<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Desiree Venable (@VenableForTx) July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Advocates also scored another win in San Marcos last week after a Texas district judge dismissed a lawsuit from the state\u2019s Republican attorney general<\/a> that sought to overturn a local decriminalization ordinance in that city.<\/p>\n Paxton filed a lawsuit in January\u00a0challenging local decriminalization laws that were enacted in five cities<\/a>: Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton. A\u00a0different district judge had overturned the suit in Austin<\/a>\u00a0last month.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in a setback from advocates, voters in Lubbock rejected a separate cannabis reform initiative<\/a>\u00a0last month.<\/p>\n Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has separately lashed out against the municipal cannabis reform efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cLocal communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don\u2019t have the authority to override state law,\u201d\u00a0the governor said in May<\/a>\u00a0\u201cIf they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let\u2019s legislate to work to make sure that the state, as a state, will pass some of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n He said it would lead to \u201cchaos\u201d and create an \u201cunworkable system\u201d for voters in individual cities to be \u201cpicking and choosing\u201d the laws they want abide by under state statute.<\/p>\n Abbott has previously said that he\u00a0doesn\u2019t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession<\/a>\u2014although he mistakenly suggested at the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.<\/p>\n Paxton had used more inflammatory rhetoric when his office announced that it was suing the five cities over their local laws decriminalizing marijuana, vowing to overrule the \u201canarchy\u201d of \u201cpro-crime extremists\u201d who advocated for the reform.<\/p>\n Shortly after voters in Harker Heights approved their measure, the city council overturned the ordinance over concerns that it conflicted with state law. But\u00a0activists collected signatures for another initiative<\/a>\u00a0and successfully repealed the repeal last year\u2014though officials have still refused to move forward with implementing the will of voters.<\/p>\n In November, Ground Game released a report that\u00a0looked at the impacts of the marijuana reform laws<\/a>. It found that the measures will keep hundreds of people out of jail, even as they have led to blowback from law enforcement in some cities. The initiatives have also driven voter turnout by being on the ballot, the report said.<\/p>\n Another\u00a0cannabis decriminalization measure that went before voters in San Antonio<\/a>\u00a0last May was overwhelmingly defeated, but that proposal also included unrelated provisions to prevent enforcement of abortion restrictions.<\/p>\n At the state-level last year, the Texas House of Representatives passed a series of bills to decriminalize marijuana, facilitate expungements and allow chronic pain patients to access medical cannabis as an opioid alternative. But\u00a0they ultimately stalled out in the Senate<\/a>, which has been a theme for cannabis reform measures in the conservative legislature over several sessions.<\/p>\n The House\u00a0passed similar cannabis decriminalization proposals<\/a>\u00a0during the past two legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019.<\/p>\n Separately, a Texas Democratic senator brought the issue of marijuana legalization to the Senate floor last May, seeking to attach to an unrelated resolution an amendment that would\u2019ve allowed Texans to vote on ending prohibition at the ballot box. But\u00a0the symbolic proposal was ultimately shut down<\/a>. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) agreed to another member\u2019s point of order, deeming the cannabis amendment not germane to the broader legislation.<\/p>\n Three in five Texans, including a plurality of Republicans,\u00a0support legalizing marijuana, according to a survey released in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another poll released in 2022 found that nearly\u00a0three in four Texas voters (72 percent) support decriminalizing marijuana<\/a>. 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 Last March, the same institution similarly showed that a majority of Texas voters feel that\u00a0the state\u2019s marijuana laws should be \u201cless strict.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Florida Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative Has Enough Support To Pass, With Bipartisan Majority Of Voters In Favor, New Poll Finds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Voters In Bastrop, Texas Will Decide On Marijuana Decriminalization In November, The 3rd City To Put Cannabis On Ballot This Year<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Voters in the Texas city of Bastrop will decide this fall on how the city should handle low-level marijuana possession crimes. City officials certified last week that a proposed charter amendment campaign secured enough voter signatures to put cannabis decriminalization on the municipality\u2019s November 5 ballot. Bastrop\u2019s decriminalization measure isContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"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\/77108"}],"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=77108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77109,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77108\/revisions\/77109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Voters In Bastrop, Texas Will Decide On Marijuana Decriminalization In November, The 3rd City To Put Cannabis On Ballot This Year<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"