One of the policies of the Texas Republican Party is opposition to the legalization of cannabis

The 2022 Texas State Republican Convention was held in person for the first time since 2018 last week, June 16-18. There, the party voted to establish 275 platform planks, or major Republican Party policies, to address a variety of agenda issues.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke tweeted some of the “extreme plans” under those planks: “Abolish abortion, devalue public schools, take away health care, repeal gun laws, deny voting rights, oppose marijuana legalization.”

The Report of the Permanent 2022 Platform & Resolutions Committee Policy List takes a brief look at cannabis, marijuana, hemp and synthetic drugs.

It mentions cannabis only once, which is described as “Cannabis Classification: Congress should remove cannabis from Schedule 1 list and move it to Schedule 2.”

However, it also uses the term marijuana. “Marijuana Remains Illegal: Oppose the legalization of recreational marijuana and provide drug treatment options before penalties are imposed for its illegal possession, use, or distribution.”

Finally, it briefly refers to hemp. “Reduce business regulations: We believe the following companies should be minimally regulated at all levels,” which reads “Use of hemp as an agricultural commodity” under a list of 14 laws in question.

The party has yet to formally evaluate and approve these planks. Until then, it is uncertain whether the planks will be officially recognized.

In 2018, the Texas Republican Party advocated decriminalizing cannabis and also called for the herb’s federal classification to be changed to Schedule I.

In early January this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared his support for cannabis reform with decriminalization. “Marijuana is now a Class C offense in the state of Texas, and so I believe in one thing — and I believe that the state legislature believes in — and that is prison, and prison is a place for dangerous criminals who… harm others, and low marijuana possession is not the type of offense we want prisons to hoard with,” Abbott said. “So we’ve taken steps in that regard.” However, his testimony was incorrect in relation to the current law, as low-level possession of cannabis is still a Class B offense and can result in up to six months in prison.

According to a recent poll conducted by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas in Tyler, Texas, voters from all political parties want medical cannabis to be legalized. According to poll results released in May, 91% of Democrats, 81% of independents and 74% of Republicans said they supported it. In the same question, respondents were asked about their support or opposition to adult-use cannabis, but were not as strong as opinions on medicinal cannabis (76% Democrats, 64% Independents, and 42% Republicans).

Meanwhile, cannabis advocates are moving further down the ballot towards decriminalization. So far, the cities of Harker Heights, Killeen, San Marcos and Denton all have working ballot initiatives, and recently a decriminalization and no-knock warrant initiative called Prop A in Austin was approved by voters on May 7th. This effort was spearheaded by Bodenspiel Texas. “Following the success of Prop A in Austin and the recent securing of ballot initiatives in Killeen and San Marcos, Ground Game Texas is proud to provide Harker Heights residents with an opportunity to decriminalize marijuana,” said Julie Oliver, Executive Director of Ground Game Texas, in a press release. “Ground Game Texas continues to demonstrate that popular politics around issues like workers, wages and grass can help expand and electrify the Texas electorate when placed directly in front of the voters.”