Texas Marijuana Decriminalization: Yes, It Exists

It’s no secret that Texas, the nation’s second most populous state, remains one of the nation’s most strictly prohibitive states.

Even after the Republican-controlled legislature passed House Bill 1535 last year to expand Texas’ medical marijuana program, only a select group of patients suffering from epilepsy, cancer or PTSD have legal access to oils that are obtained from the plant. The THC content in these oils cannot exceed a paltry 1%. Cannabis flower is still completely banned in the state of Longhorn. It’s not even approved for medical use.

Cops in Austin will not arrest you for holding up to 4 ounces of flowers. But only flower. And don’t wander outside the city limits.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said he wants to decriminalize the facility, and the Texas House offered a glimmer of hope during its biennial legislative session last year by passing a decriminalization bill. But a tight-fisted Senate led by Prohibitionist Lt. gov. Dan Patrick, has refused to hear meaningful legalization legislation for years.

Meanwhile, many Texas patients and other adults seeking legal access to the plant have flocked to neighboring Oklahoma and New Mexico to get their weed. And while they won’t be able to buy it at home any time soon, a growing number of Texas cities are now taking decriminalization matters into their own hands.

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Austin stands alone…for now

On May 7, 2022, a whopping 85% of Austin residents voted to officially decriminalize marijuana bud within the city limits. Proposal A was the first and only vote of its kind in a Texas city after supporters of the progressive Ground Game Texas coalition collected the 25,000 signatures needed for the Austin City Council to consider the measure.

The council agreed and sent it to the city’s voters, who stamped it with overwhelming approval. The new regulation is already in effect, allowing possession of up to four ounces of marijuana flower. That’s pretty generous considering most legal states limit personal possessions to an ounce of flower.

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Stick to the flower, my friends

However, this expansive line of ownership does not extend beyond the flower.

Importantly, concentrates are not decriminalized under Prop A, and possession of any amount of edibles, waxes, or infused beverages still requires a criminal offense. It is also still illegal to smoke or sell the plant in public.

“The decriminalization ordinances only let us go as far as Class A and B misdemeanors,” said Julie Oliver, executive director of Ground Game and a former candidate for the US House of Representatives. “Possession of concentrates in any amount is still a criminal offense under state law, so there’s nothing we can do unless the state reclassifies it.”

Prop A cements the desire of Austin Police Chief Brian Manley, who released a memo in 2020 directing officers not to issue subpoenas or arrests for low-level marijuana offenses unless the offenses were related to more serious crimes .

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Other cities have decrim measures in the works

Austin is just the tip of the iceberg for Oliver and Ground Game Texas.

The group also collected enough signatures in five other cities to decriminalize the work as early as the November 2022 elections. These cities are:

• Killeen – Located just 60 miles north of Austin with a population of 150,000 people
• Denton – a suburb of about 140,000 near Dallas and Fort Worth
• San Marcos – a small town of 65,000 between Austin and San Antonio
• Harker Heights – a town of 35,000 bordering Killeen
• Elgin – a small town east of Austin.

While any of the councilors could vote to decriminalize the plant, the most likely outcome in all five cities is that elected officials will instead give voters the final say in November’s general election.

If passed, local decriminalization laws in Killeen, Denton, San Marcos, Harker Heights and Elgin would be identical to those in Austin: Police would leave alone any adult 21 and older found in possession of four ounces or less of flowers . But possession of concentrates, smoking in public, and selling the plant remained illegal.

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District Attorneys appear in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Corpus Christi

Major Texas cities have neither signature campaigns nor plans to decriminalize the facility this year. But in the absence of actual legislation, local district attorneys in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Corpus Christi have announced plans to end criminal-level prosecutions for cannabis possession offenses — the very offenses Austin has officially decriminalized.

In 2019, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot decided to stop prosecuting people arrested for possession of up to four ounces of marijuana flower because the person arrested was a first-time marijuana offender and was not charged with other crimes Time. However, in second marijuana arrests and beyond, anything is possible.

“This is a step in the right direction, but it misleads people who think they can have cannabis there,” said Jax James, executive director of Texas NORML. “The reality is that cannabis is still illegal in Dallas. It is not decriminalized.”

A Houston program diverts arrests

In Houston, the local district attorney began offering a “Pre-Charge” Misdemeanor Marijuana Diversion Program, meaning any adult caught with up to four ounces can avoid a subpoena and arrest if they give the responding police officer a notice present a valid ID. Harris County Prosecutor Kim Ogg started the program back in 2017 and claimed it diverted over $35 million in local taxes that would otherwise have been used to arrest and prosecute 9,000 petty offenders in the program’s first two years would be.

Ogg and three other prosecutors — from neighboring Sugar Land, as well as San Antonio and Corpus Christi — also signed a 2019 letter pledging to turn down cases of four ounces or less of marijuana unless the weed in question was grown lab tested and had “a proven THC concentration.”

Chris Kudialis

Chris Kudialis is a Las Vegas-based cannabis reporter. He has written articles for the Los Angeles Times, Las Vegas Sun, Charlotte Observer, Houston Chronicle, Detroit Free Press, and Brazil’s Rio Times, among others.

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