Politics
Houston Voters Could Make Marijuana Arrests The ‘Lowest Possible’ Priority For Police With Ballot Measure In November
Local officials in Houston, Texas are set to decide this week to place a voter-initiated measure to make misdemeanor marijuana possession the “lowest possible enforcement priority” for local police on the November ballot.
Activists with Ground Game Texas have submitted nearly 40,000 signatures from registered voters in support of the Houston Freedom Act, which would also ban no-knock warrants in the city.
The City Council is expected to receive public testimony on the proposed charter amendment on Tuesday and then vote on Wednesday to place it on the ballot.
The cannabis initiative says that its purpose is to “carefully allocating scarce city resources, reducing the risk of discriminatory enforcement practices, and focusing city resources on the highest priority public safety concerns.”
“The City shall update its annual budget, police department manual, and relevant policies and procedures to ensure that public safety resources are not wasted on misdemeanor marijuana enforcement, and are instead targeted at other programs that best promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the people of Houston,” it says.
The measure says the city should support diversion options such as referrals to treatment or participation in community service programs as an alternative to arrest for people accused of Class A or Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession.
Officers will still be allowed to seize any substance that they have probable cause to believe is marijuana, however.
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If the measure is enacted, the city manager will need to ensure that budgets and reporting account for “total funds and staff time” spent on THC testing of cannabis-related substances.
There would also need to be a one-time audit of all misdemeanor marijuana enforcement conducted by city police within the past five years, including a breakdown of arrests made and citations issued, with demographic breakdowns for age, gender, race and ethnicity.
“To the best of their ability, the City shall determine: (a) the average total staff hours required per misdemeanor marijuana charge, including officer time, transit time, and any staff processing time; (b) the average total cost to the City per misdemeanor marijuana charge; (c ) the estimated total spent by the City on THC testing for each year under review; and (d) the estimated total spent by the City on misdemeanor marijuana enforcement, including staff and testing costs, for each year under review.”
Going forward, local officials would also need to issue annual reports on implementation of the lowest-enforcement priority policy for cannabis possession arrests.
Ground Game has expressed concerns that local officials have not been processing submitted signatures for the measure as quickly as they had hoped in recent weeks, so they have stepped up pressure—including by asking supporters to testify at the council’s public meeting on Tuesday.
Catina Voellinger, executive director of the organization, told Marijuana Moment that activists have been assured by the mayor’s office that if the petition review is not completed in time for Wednesday’s council meeting, a special meeting will be called for August 17, which is the deadline to certify ballot measures for November.
Ground Game has previously organized efforts to put more far-reaching measures to decriminalize marijuana under local law on the ballot in several cities across Texas, with some passing and some failing.
In general, the measures that have been approved in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos were aimed at preventing police from making arrests or issuing citations for Class A or B misdemeanor cannabis possession offenses, unless it’s part of a high priority felony investigation for narcotics or violent crime.
State Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), however, has sued to block enactment of those local cannabis decriminalization laws—saying that “we don’t allow cities the ability to create anarchy by picking and choosing the laws they enforce.”
The Texas Supreme Court sided with the attorney general in his quest to overturn the local voter-approved cannabis laws.
Paxton is running for U.S. Senate this November. His Democratic opponent James Talarico recently said that keeping marijuana illegal is an “insane” form of “corruption” that benefits alcohol and tobacco companies.
Meanwhile in Texas, regulators have moved to ban certain hemp-derived THC cannabis products, including those containing delta-8 and delta-10 THC. Now classified as Schedule I drugs, possession is treated as a felony, carrying a punishment of 180 days to two years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.
The restrictions are being challenged with a federal lawsuit filed by hemp companies.
