Tag: marijuana decriminalization

Atlanta’s Decriminalization Of Marijuana ‘Led To A Reduction In Violent Crime,’ New Research Shows

A new study on Atlanta’s move to decriminalize marijuana concludes that, contrary to warnings from some critics, the policy change in fact led to a decrease in violent crime as police turned their attention to more urgent matters.

The research looks at crime surrounding the city’s 2017 reduction of penalties around the simple possession of cannabis. Prior to the change, possession of up to an ounce of marijuana was punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,500 fine. Afterward, that fell to a maximum $75 fine civil fine, with no possibility of jail time.

While some warned that loosening penalties would lead to a rise in crime rates, researchers observed the opposite.

“Our findings suggest that decriminalization led to a reduction in violent crime,” the new report says, “likely due to police reallocating resources from marijuana enforcement to violent crime prevention.”

To arrive at that conclusion, authors examined agency-level crime data from 2015 through 2018 from Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reports, which included information from nearly all Georgia cities with populations over 25,000. They then compared crime rates between Atlanta and other control cities that did not decriminalize marijuana.

Relative to those control cities, the “estimated effect” of decriminalization in Atlanta was “about 20 fewer violent crimes per 100,000 people per month,” the analysis found. That’s a 19.7 percent reduction from the pre-decriminalization average.

“Our analysis finds that violent crime in Atlanta declined relative to control agencies following marijuana decriminalization, with results robust to alternative estimation methods, event studies, and placebo tests,” the report concludes. “Our estimates suggest that decriminalization led to a 20% reduction in violent crime rates relative to pre-policy levels.”

The paper says the findings align with claims from Atlanta Police Department (APD) shortly after decriminalization that officers would “focus…on violent crime and crimes that truly affect people—things that endanger lives.”

“We want to fill jails with armed robbers, rapists, burglars, home invaders—we do not want to fill the jails with pot smokers. That’s the bottom line,” APD Public Affairs Director Carlos Campos said at the time, the study notes.

Atlanta’s decreases in violent crime, the study’s authors noted, “align with APD’s stated policy shift, as department leaders emphasized reallocating resources to violent crime enforcement.”

“Importantly, this decline was not offset by crime displacement in neighboring counties,” they added.

Keep reading

Texas Judge Rejects Attorney General’s Attempt To Reverse Dallas Marijuana Decriminalization Law Approved By Voters

A Texas judge has shot down the Republican state attorney general’s attempt to block a local marijuana decriminalization law that voters approved at the ballot last November.

On Friday, 134th Civil District Court Judge Dale Tillery denied a motion for temporary injunction from Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) that sought to undermine the local law by allowing continued enforcement of cannabis criminalization in the state’s third most populous city.

The one-page order from the judge states: “Upon consideration of the pleadings, the application, responses, evidence, and oral arguments presented, if any, the Court finds that the application is hereby DENIED.”

This comes about a month after the Dallas Police Department instructed officers to stop arresting or citing people for possession of up to four ounces of marijuana, in accordance with the voter-approved ballot initiative.

Paxton had filed a lawsuit with the intent to invalidate the law just weeks after the November vote. It’s one of several examples of the state official attempting to leverage the court system to reverse local cannabis reform efforts.

Numerous Texas cities have enacted local decriminalization laws in recent years, and, last January, the attorney general 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.

Dallas lawmakers formally put the marijuana decriminalization initiative on the ballot in August after activists turned in sufficient petitions for the reform. Cannabis icon and music legend Willie Nelson had urged Dallas voters to pass the marijuana measure.

Prior to last August’s 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.

Keep reading

Marijuana Possession Would Be Decriminalized In Texas Under Lawmaker’s New Bill

Low-level marijuana possession would be decriminalized in Texas if a new bill filed this week by a key House leader is enacted.

The measure, HB 3242, from Rep. Joe Moody (D), would make simple possession of up to an ounce of cannabis flower a Class C misdemeanor—explicitly removing the risk of arrest and incarceration.

Class C misdemeanors are punishable by a fine of up to $500, with no possibility of jail time. Currently simple possession of cannabis is a Class B misdemeanor, which carries penalties of up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Moody’s proposal, introduced on Monday, is the latest of nearly two dozen cannabis-related bills filed so far in Texas for the current legislative session. Various other measures would legalize adult-use marijuana, prohibit certain hemp-derived products, remove criminal penalties for cannabis possession and adjust the state’s existing medical marijuana laws, among others.

Heather Fazio, director of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, has been tracking legislation in the state and applauded the introduction of HB 3242 by Moody, who was tapped by House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) to serve as House speaker pro tempore.

Keep reading

Dallas police now instructed to not arrest, give citations for marijuana possession of 4 ounces or less

Dallas police officers have new marching orders when it comes to enforcement of arrests and citations for marijuana possession with the implementation of Proposition R.

According to an internal DPD memo obtained by WFAA, Dallas officers are now prohibited from making arrests or issuing citations for marijuana possession – four ounces or less – nor can they “consider the odor of marijuana as probable cause for search and seizure, except as part of a violent felony or high priority narcotics felony investigations.”

The previous policy regarding possession of marijuana prompted officers to confiscate, but not cite nor arrest people who had less than two ounces of marijuana. Per the memo sent out Friday, that policy is now “obsolete.”

Proposition R, also dubbed the “Dallas Freedom Act” by supporters, passed with 66% of the vote in the November election.

Last year, former Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia warned that the proposition could have a negative impact on public safety.

“In my 32 years in law enforcement, in my opinion, it could lead to increased illegal sales and deterioration of quality of life in certain areas of our city,” Garcia told the city council in August 2023.

“Regardless of your thoughts and/or opinions regarding the passing of this amendment, we must remain focused on our dutites and obligations to the Dallas Police Department and the residents of the City of Dallas,” Dallas Interim Police Chief Michael Igo wrote in the memo. “It is crucial to maintain professionalism and composure, as you always represent this exceptional Police Department.”

Keep reading

Dallas Voters Nix an All-Purpose Excuse for Police Harassment: ‘I Smelled Marijuana’

The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case involving a Texas police officer, Roberto Felix Jr., who shot and killed a motorist, Ashtian Barnes, after stopping him for toll violations tied to the rental car he was driving. The issue in Barnes v. Felix is whether that use of deadly force, which happened after Felix leaped onto the car as Barnes began driving away, should be assessed based solely on “the moment of the threat” or based on an analysis that includes the circumstances that produced the threat. But another detail of the encounter reflects the role that the purported odor of marijuana plays in police stops that may lead to humiliating searches, cash seizures, arrests, or, as in this case, potentially lethal violence.

When Felix asked Barnes for his driver’s license and proof of insurance, a federal judge noted in 2021, “Barnes informed him that he did not have his license and that he had rented the vehicle a week earlier in his girlfriend’s name.” Barnes started “reaching around the vehicle and rummaging through papers.” Felix told him to stop “digging around” and “asked Barnes whether he had anything in the vehicle he should know about, claiming he smelled marijuana.” Although a search conducted after Felix killed Barnes found no marijuana, the alleged odor helped escalate the encounter, indicating that Felix suspected Barnes of criminal activity as well as toll violations.

A ballot initiative that Dallas voters overwhelmingly approved this week aims to avoid such escalation. In addition to generally barring local police from arresting people for marijuana possession misdemeanors, Proposition R says “Dallas police shall not consider the odor of marijuana or hemp to constitute probable cause for any search or seizure.” That seemingly modest restriction undercuts an excuse that in practice gives cops the discretion to stop, harass, and search pretty much anyone by claiming to smell pot.

Proposition R reflects an ongoing controversy over marijuana odor and probable cause. In states that have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, some courts have held that the smell of cannabis, whether detected by a human or a police dog, can no longer justify a search, since it does not necessarily constitute evidence of a crime. And while Texas has not legalized marijuana for any use, it has legalized hemp, which comes from the same plant species and cannot be distinguished from marijuana without a laboratory test to measure THC content.

In 2019, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1325, which changed the state’s definition of “marihuana” to exclude “hemp, as that term is defined by Section 121.001” of the Texas Agriculture Code. Consistent with federal law, Section 121.001 defines “hemp” as “the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds of the plant and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.”

The difference between legal “hemp” and prohibited “marihuana,” in other words, is the THC concentration, which cannot be measured by smell or even by a field test. “Before H.B. 1325,” Dallas attorney Jon McCurley notes, “marijuana’s distinct and readily recognizable odor often [led] law enforcement to believe that a criminal act was occurring.” But after H.B. 1325, “simply detecting the odor of marijuana may not be enough to justify a search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment because in order to search or get a warrant, law enforcement officials must have probable cause that a crime has been committed or is about to be committed.”

Keep reading

Social Workers Push Biden To Fully Decriminalize Marijuana Under Federal Law, Not Just Reschedule It

Nearly 150 social workers have signed on to a letter urging President Joe Biden to fully remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), arguing that despite the administration’s proposal to downgrade cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, there’s nevertheless a “critical need for decriminalization.”

“The criminalization of marijuana has torn apart families, with overwhelmingly disparate impact in communities of color,” says the letter, sent to the president by 148 social workers last week. “If marijuana remains scheduled under the CSA, the individual and collective suffering caused by prohibition will continue growing.”

The letter points out that under current law, people convicted of drug offenses can lose public benefits, including welfare aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as well as access to housing.

“By virtue of our profession, we have witnessed the grievous harm that marijuana criminalization has caused,” it says. “If marijuana remains scheduled, parents will lose their children, children will lose their homes, and beloved members of our households will be deprived of essential benefits.”

Despite overwhelming support for legalization, it adds, “the use of marijuana remains a federal crime”—which would still be true in most cases even after federal rescheduling.

The current patchwork of state and local laws has also led to sharply different circumstances across the country, the letter continues, arguing that the “piecemeal approach towards legalization has created significant disparities in opportunities and outcomes.”

“While communities in legal states can build wealth from legal marijuana sales and benefit from regulations that ensure a safe, unaltered product,” it says, “other communities are subject to losing their homes, their occupations, their families, and their freedom over the same substance. The disparities in marijuana laws stand in stark opposition to the 88% of Americans who support legalization.”

“Approximately 80% of all children in the foster care system are removed from their homes for drug-related causes,” it adds.

Keep reading

Dallas Voters Could See Marijuana Decriminalization On November Ballot Under New City Council Plan

Dallas voters could decide whether to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana if City Council members approve a plan to put the measure on the November ballot, several council members said Friday.

Council member Chad West will propose the Dallas Freedom Act at a June 26 meeting, he said in a news release. A petition supporting the change garnered more than 50,000 signatures, organizers said.

“Voters in our city and across the country want to decriminalize marijuana,” West said. “Our already burdened police should focus their attention on serious crime, not arresting people with small amounts of marijuana. Bringing this to voters through a City Council-proposed Charter amendment instead of a petition will save the city time and resources.”

The proposal would direct police to stop writing tickets or making arrests for less than four ounces of marijuana. Possessing two to four ounces is a class A misdemeanor that can carry a one-year jail term and holding under two ounes is a classor B misdemeanor that can come with a 180-day sentence.

Keep reading

Texas Governor Condemns Local Marijuana Decriminalization Efforts As Lubbock Voters Decide On Reform At The Ballot

The Republican governor of Texas says that cities seeking to locally decriminalize marijuana—including one that’s set to vote on the reform next week—don’t have the authority to “override” state law.

Three months after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued five cities over voter-approved cannabis decriminalization policies, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) addressed the forthcoming vote in Lubbock, where the reform is on the local May 4 ballot.

The governor told KAMC that his concern was “bigger” than the question of decriminalization itself and was more a matter of localities superseding state laws.

“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” Abbott said. “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.”

The governor has previously said that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—although he mistakenly suggested that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.

In the new interview this week, Abbott said it would lead to “chaos” for voters in individual cities to be “picking and choosing” the laws they want abide by under state statute.

“It’s an unworkable system,” he said.

Keep reading

Hawaii Lawmakers Advance Bill To Expand State’s Marijuana Decriminalization Law As Broader Legalization Hangs In The Balance

As a bill to legalize marijuana in Hawaii hangs in the balance in the state legislature, a House committee has amended and advanced separate legislation on Thursday that would expand the state’s current decriminalization of cannabis by increasing amounts of the substance for which people would not face the threat of jail time and reducing certain financial penalties.

After adopting a handful amendments to the underlying measure, SB 2487, members of the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs (JHA) Committee voted 7–2 to recommend that the proposal be passed.

In its current form, the bill, sponsored by Sen. Joy San Buenaventura (D), would specify that possession of an ounce of marijuana or less would be subject to a $25 civil fine. Under existing law in Hawaii, possession of up to three grams carries a $130 fine.

In some cases, individuals could perform community service instead of paying a financial penalty under the new legislation.

Between one and two ounces of cannabis, meanwhile, would be punishable as a petty misdemeanor—up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Currently that range is between three grams and an ounce, with anything between one ounce and one pound carrying a misdemeanor penalty of up to a year of incarceration and a $2,000 fine.

The bill would also create a new violation for smoking marijuana in a public area, which would carry a $130 fee with the possibility of community service.

“This is important,” Rep. David Tarnas (D), the JHA Committee chair, said of the public consumption change before the panel’s vote. “This is a significant step to deal with an issue that we heard coming up in the bill considered about legalizing cannabis use.”

Keep reading

Decriminalizing marijuana in Ohio is long overdue, but work is not done

In a historic move, Ohio has embraced the legalization of recreational marijuana, marking a significant shift in our state’s approach to cannabis. This landmark decision promotes personal freedom and fosters justice, equity and economic opportunity.

With the legalization of recreational marijuana, Ohioans now have the freedom to possess, consume and cultivate cannabis for personal use without fear of legal repercussions. This policy change represents a crucial step forward, bringing an end to the unjust criminalization of individuals for nonviolent offenses.

However, our work is far from over. Despite the legalization of recreational marijuana, many Ohioans continue to suffer the consequences of past convictions. Misdemeanor marijuana charges have hindered individuals from obtaining driver’s licenses, seeking employment and rebuilding their lives. It is time for our courts to do their part in righting these wrongs.

That is why it is imperative for courts across the state to host “Amnesty Days” and dismiss misdemeanor marijuana cases. These events would allow individuals to clear their records and regain their ability to drive legally. By removing this barrier to employment and mobility, we can empower Ohioans to participate fully in society and contribute to their communities.

Keep reading