After the Lubbock City Council on Tuesday declined to pass the reform, voters in another Texas town will be able to vote on a local decriminalization of marijuana initiative.
Local lawmakers rejected the measure unanimously in a vote of 0-7. The measure was placed on the agenda by activists after they submitted enough signatures for the proposal to be considered. The measure will be put to the voters in May of 2024.
The committee that initiated the initiative filed the Freedom Act Lubbock Ordinance with the city secretary for the first time in August. officials confirmed earlier this month that after activists submitted more than 10,000 petitions , the campaign had enough petitions for the process to proceed.
The local legislators of Lubbock, Texas’ tenth-largest city, had 30 calendar days to hold an hearing and decide whether to decriminalize marijuana. They declined this opportunity and, as Everything Lubbock first reports, it will be put to the voters next spring.
Adam Hernandez, Lubbock Compact’s communications chair, told the City Council on Tuesday that “the heart of our ordinance” is simple. “We don’t believe people should be jailed for personal marijuana use in Lubbock.”
If the initiative passes, the local police will not be able to arrest or cite adults who are in possession of four ounces or less of cannabis unless a court order is issued by a state or federal authority. In the event that this does occur, the initiative states the “City policy shall be enforcement of Class B and A misdemeanors marijuana possession as its lowest enforcement priority.”
The measure’s text states that the goal is to “promote health, safety and general welfare for the people of Lubbock.” It also aims to “carefully allocate scarce city resources and reduce the risk of unfair enforcement practices while focusing the city resources on public safety issues of highest priority.”
Lubbock will be the second-largest city in Texas by population to implement the reform. Ground Game Texas led the reform in cities such as Austin and Delton.
This organization released a recent report that examined the impact of similar marijuana reform initiatives. The report found that these measures would keep hundreds out of prison, even though they had led to a backlash from some law enforcement agencies. Report said that the initiatives had also increased voter turnout because they were on the ballot.
The decriminalization proposal that was put before San Antonio voters in May, and which included provisions that would prevent the enforcement of abortion restrictions, was defeated by a large majority.
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In certain jurisdictions, where decriminalization was approved by voters, advocates have had to deal with issues.
The city council reversed the ordinance shortly after Harker Heights voters approved it, citing concerns that the measure was in conflict with state law. But activists collected enough signatures to repeal the repeal by collecting more for another initiative.
Killeen City Council temporarily suspended the implementation of its local voter approved ordinance. They argued that there were some legal concerns that legislators needed to work through before they gave it their approval. This was eventually done. Bell County sued the policy in April.
The Texas House of Representatives this session passed a number of bills that would decriminalize cannabis, allow expungements, and give chronic pain patients access to medical cannabis as an alternative to opioids. But the Senate ultimately blocked the bills, which was a common theme in cannabis reform in the conservative legislative body over the past several sessions.
In 2021 and 2019, the House adopted similar proposals for decriminalizing cannabis.
A Texas Democratic Senator brought marijuana legalization up on the Senate floor in May. He was trying to attach an amendment to a resolution that had nothing to do with the issue, allowing Texans the opportunity to vote at the polls to end prohibition. But , the symbolic proposal was ultimately rejected. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), in agreement with another member, agreed that the cannabis amendment was not relevant to the larger legislation.
According to a University of Texas/Texas Politics Project survey conducted last year, nearly 3 out of 4 Texas voters (72%) support decriminalizing cannabis. Over half (55%) of respondents said they support a broader legalization. Seventeen percent of respondents said that it should not be legalized at all.
The same institution also showed in March that a majority felt that state marijuana laws should “be less strict.”
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Martin Alonso is the photographer of this photo.
The post After Lubbock’s lawmakers rejected the voter initiative, another Texas city will see marijuana decriminalization on ballot appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
