Politics
Texas GOP Attorney General Sues To Overturn Voter-Approved Marijuana Decriminalization Law In Dallas
The Republican attorney general of Texas has already filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a local marijuana decriminalization ordinance in Dallas that voters passed at the ballot earlier this month.
While 67 percent of Dallas voters approved the reform measure, Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is continuing his so far unsuccessful campaign to reverse local decriminalization policies, filing suit against the state’s third most populous city on Wednesday.
Numerous Texas cities have enacted local decriminalization laws in recent years, and, in January, Paxton similarly sought to block the reform in Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton.
State district judges dismissed two of the lawsuits—which argue that state law prohibiting marijuana preempts the local policies—in Austin and San Marcos. The city of Elgin reached a settlement, with the local government pointing out that decriminalization was never implemented there despite voter approval of the initiative.
“Cities cannot pick and choose which State laws they follow,” the attorney general said in a press release on Thursday. “The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them. This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”
Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues the City of Dallas for Ballot Measure Prohibiting Police from Enforcing Marijuana-Related Offenses: https://t.co/BVNsb5kF3j
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) November 21, 2024
The filing against Dallas comes after the City Council rejected a motion to delay enactment of the marijuana decriminalization law.
Ground Game Texas, the nonprofit that’s spearheaded many of the local reform efforts, said on Tuesday that, while “this is not the first time that our marijuana decriminalization propositions have been described as in conflict with state law, it is important to clarify that this is not true—we drafted these propositions carefully in order to comply with current state law.”
“Decriminalization is not legalization, but instead a change to enforcement policy,” the group said.
In response to the state official’s legal challenge, Ground Game Texas Executive Director Catina Voellinger said it’s “unfortunate but not surprising that Attorney General Ken Paxton has apparently chosen to waste everyone’s time and money by filing yet another baseless lawsuit against marijuana decriminalization.”
“Judges in Travis and Hays counties have already dismissed identical lawsuits filed there,” she said. “The Dallas Freedom Act was overwhelmingly approved by 67 percent of voters—this is democracy in action.”
Dallas lawmakers formally put the marijuana decriminalization initiative on the ballot in August after activists turned in sufficient petitions for the reform. Now that voters have approved the proposal, possession of up to four ounces of marijuana is decriminalized in the city.
Cannabis icon and music legend Willie Nelson had urged Dallas voters to pass the marijuana measure.
Prior to the August vote on ballot placement, some members of the Dallas City Council had expressed interest in streamlining the process of decriminalizing cannabis by acting legislatively, but plans to introduce the proposal at a hearing in June did not materialize, leaving the matter to voters.
Here’s what the initiative accomplishes:
- The measure prevents 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.
- Further, it says “Dallas police shall not consider the odor of marijuana or hemp to constitute probable cause for any search or seizure.”
- The city manager and chief of police is required to prepare quarterly reports on the implementation of the policy change, with information about any marijuana possession arrests or citations that must be submitted to the Dallas City Council.
Also at the ballot this month, voters in the Texas cities of Lockhart and Bastrop similarly elected to pass local decriminalization ordinances.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has lashed out against the municipal cannabis reform efforts.
“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said in May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s legislate to work to make sure that the state, as a state, will pass some of the law.”
He said it would lead to “chaos” and create an “unworkable system” for voters in individual cities to be “picking and choosing” the laws they want abide by under state statute.
Abbott has previously said that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—although he mistakenly suggested at the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.
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 “anarchy” of “pro-crime extremists” who advocated for the reform.
Last year, Ground Game released a report that looked at the impacts of the marijuana reform laws. 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.
Another cannabis decriminalization measure that went before voters in San Antonio last year was overwhelmingly defeated, but that proposal also included unrelated provisions to prevent enforcement of abortion restrictions.
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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 they ultimately stalled out in the Senate, which has been a theme for cannabis reform measures in the conservative legislature over several sessions.
The House passed similar cannabis decriminalization proposals during the past two legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019.
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’ve allowed Texans to vote on ending prohibition at the ballot box. But the symbolic proposal was ultimately shut down. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) agreed to another member’s point of order, deeming the cannabis amendment not germane to the broader legislation.
A strong bipartisan majority of Texas voters support decriminalizing marijuana, and more people say they want to reduce restrictions on cannabis than say the same about guns, gambling and abortion in the Lone Star state, according to a poll released in September.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) separately released a recent report advising that the state’s limited medical marijuana system “does not provide for statewide access for patients” and recommending that the number of licensed dispensaries be significantly expanded to meet demand.
