The city of Dallas, Texas will soon discuss whether or not to add a measure on the November ballot that would decriminalize small amounts of cannabis.

Recently in a news release, Dallas Councilmember Chad West announced that the Dallas Freedom Act will be proposed on June 26. “Voters in our city and across the country want to decriminalize marijuana,” said West. “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 was accelerated through a petition which collected more than 50,000 signatures through the help of Ground Game Texas. If passed into law, it would prevent police from giving tickets or arresting people for possessing less than four ounces of cannabis through Class A or Class B misdemeanors.  “Voters in our city and across the country want to decriminalize marijuana,” said West. “Our already burdened police should focus their attention on serious crime, not arresting people with small amounts of marijuana.”

Ground Game Texas has assisted numerous other Texas cities in passing decriminalization, such as Austin, Denton, Killeen, and San Marcos. However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently sued some of those cities (specifically Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos) for passing decriminalization bills at the end of January. “I will not stand idly by as cities run by pro-crime extremists deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities,” Paxton said. “This unconstitutional action by municipalities demonstrates why Texas must have a law to ‘follow the law.’ It’s quite simple: the legislature passes every law after a full debate on the issues, and we don’t allow cities the ability to create anarchy by picking and choosing the laws they enforce.”

Former Ground Game Texas executive director, Julie Oliver, accused Paxton of fighting against the will of the people. “Ken Paxton’s lawsuits represent an anti-democratic assault on the constitutional authority of Texas Home Rule cities to set local law enforcement priorities,” said Oliver at the time. “In each of the cities sued, a supermajority of voters adopted a policy to deprioritize marijuana enforcement in order to reduce racially biased law enforcement outcomes and save scarce public resources for higher priority public safety needs.”

The Dallas Observer asked West how he thinks Paxton would react if Dallas decriminalized cannabis. “I would hope the attorney general would support and respect the strong will of Dallas residents on this issue. However, based on past actions, I am not optimistic,” West said.

Alongside West, councilmembers Adam Bazaldua, Jaime Resendez, and Zarin Gracey are also in support of decriminalization in Dallas. Bazaldua said in a recent press statement that it’s essential to give voters a chance to pass the bill. “For the past four years I have advocated for our council to implement this kind of initiative,” said Bazaldua. “Our jails are overfilled with predominantly Brown and Black males serving sentences for a substance that is making others millions of dollars in more than 30 states across the country. It’s past time we take action against this injustice.”

Bazaldua initially proposed decriminalization in 2021, which led Dallas law enforcement to stop arresting people if they were in possession of less than two ounces of cannabis, however, the Dallas Police Department (DPD) has continued to make arrests, according to Resendez. “Despite the positive steps taken by the city and DPD in recent years, marijuana-related arrests continue, and racial disparities persist,” Resendez said. “Although marijuana use is comparable across racial lines, Black and Latino individuals are disproportionately arrested and punished. Decriminalization is the best way to address this disparity.”

Gracey also added that decriminalizing is mainly about righting the wrongs of the War on Drugs. “Decriminalizing marijuana is not just about changing laws; it’s about rectifying decades of injustice and ensuring that our legal system is fair and equitable for all,” Gracey said.

Oliver was replaced as Ground Game Texas executive director by Catina Voellinger in April, although no reason was presented by the organization. “We’ve built a very strong and mighty team that’s greater than the sum of its parts, right?” said Voellinger after she took the position. “So the main message is that Ground Game is a force, and we’re not going anywhere. None of our programs have ceased. We’re not going to back out on any of the things we’ve committed to. And we’re excited about the future and growing this movement.” 

Recently there have been two ongoing lawsuits against the city of Killeen, which remain unaffected by the recent change in executive director position at Ground Game Texas. “I thoroughly enjoyed working with Julie and I’ll continue to work with her,” said Bell County Commissioner Louie Minor. “I don’t know what her plans are, but I know that she’s dedicated to bringing change to Bell County and all over the state. The impact of Julie and Ground Game has been statewide; but here in Bell County, they were instrumental in getting a more progressive voice in elected positions and giving residents a chance to vote on issues that they care about.”

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Advocates in Texas recently announced that they’ve collected enough signatures to add a decriminalization initiative to the ballot in Lubbock, located in the northwestern part of the state. According to 2022 census data, the city is home to 264,000 people, and is among the top 10 most populated cities in the state.

On Oct. 11, advocates announced that they have collected 8,800 signatures for the Freedom Act Lubbock to qualify for the ballot. This is far more than the required amount, which is set at 4,800 signatures.

According to Lubbock Compact Communications Chair, Adam Hernandez, it’s been a successful gathering campaign. “We are extremely proud of all of the volunteers on our team, and everyone else who is helping us collect signatures,” Hernandez said.

On Instagram, Freedom Act Lubbock posted about the success. “We could not have gotten this far without each and every one of those pictured and those not pictured, too. And, we would be remiss if we didn’t recognize all of our followers for the countless reactions, shares, comments of support, conversations, and of course for your time in adding your signature to our petition or registering to vote- some for the first time ever! We are forever grateful that all of you helped us make this happen for good change in Lubbock. Thank you. The journey has been long, but absolutely worth it!”

With a few days of extra time, advocates plan to submit approximately 10,000 signatures in total before submitting them to the Lubbock City Council by Oct. 17, who will then choose to accept or reject it. Should the council reject the proposal, it can be placed on the May 2024 ballot and voters will decide if decriminalization should be implemented.

Ground Game Texas, an advocacy group that has helped other Texas cities implement decriminalization laws, put together an Impact Report for Lubbock. It states that while 8% of Lubbock residents are Black, and 37% are Latinos, 29% of cannabis arrests consisted of Black residents, and 49% were Latinos. The data presented in the report also showed that 52.2% of cannabis arrests consisted of people up to 25 years of age, and 14.7% of all arrests targeted youth 17 and younger.

“Many of these arrests result in misdemeanor charges. Although they are classified as lesser offenses, the outcomes of misdemeanor charges can drastically alter life trajectories by negatively impacting opportunities in employment, housing, and education,” the report stated. “Testimonies, such as those shared by Lubbock residents, highlight the enduring community harm caused by these enforcement policies. Emerging research demonstrates the benefits of non-prosecution of nonviolent misdemeanors.”

As a result, the report calls for immediate change. “These findings should require Lubbock to reevaluate its marijuana enforcement priorities and implement a more common sense, equitable, and just enforcement program for all residents,” it stated.

According to the Texas Tribune, Hernandez argued that there are many benefits to decriminalizing cannabis. “Our senior populations use it for chronic pain, veterans use it for post-traumatic stress, people who have cancer use it as they go through chemo,” said Hernandez. “There’s all sorts of uses for it. If people could educate themselves on that, they may find they have friends and family who may be using it for something.”

A Texas ACLU legal expert, Charelle Lett, told the news outlet that there is a strong chance that Lubbock’s ordinance will pass. “As long as the ordinance isn’t prohibited by state or federal law, which to my knowledge, there isn’t a prohibition on decriminalizing marijuana in Texas so far, then they may have a good chance of getting this to pass,” Lett said. “A lot of the time, people in high places forget to listen to the community they are so-called serving. Nobody knows what a community needs better than the community itself.”

In other places in Texas, such as Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen, and San Marcos, voters approved a decriminalization measure in November 2022. In many of these areas, the ballot initiatives would prevent law enforcement from making arrests for people caught in possession of small amounts of cannabis, and would also not allow them to conduct searches because of cannabis odors.

In Denton though, city manager Sara Hensley told the NBC DFW news outlet that decriminalization would be challenging to put into place. “I recognize the voters have spoken and I understand that, but we don’t have the authority to implement those because of state law and the conflicts,” Hensley said. Apparently, both Texas cities as well as law enforcement departments are “prohibited from adopting a policy that does not fully enforce state and federal laws relating to drugs” and “the city manager and chief of police cannot direct otherwise.” “I do not have the authority to direct the police chief to not enforce the law,” Hensley added.

However in June, the Denton City Council voted against adopting the ordinance that would have implemented these cannabis decriminalization efforts.

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This effort was passed with the help of Ground Game Texas, a local advocacy group that targeted those five cities specifically for the ballot. The organization has also been involved in other campaigns in Austin, El Paso, and San Antonio. “Big night for Ground Game! All five of our cities looking to pass marijuana decriminalization. Motivating new voters with popular, progressive issues!” the organization wrote on Facebook.

For Denton, the initiative was referred to as Proposition B, but the other four cities listed their initiatives as Proposition A. Each of them establishes an ordinance (rather than a resolution) to remove all citations and arrests for cannabis-related possession, prevent local police from issuing citations for drug paraphernalia or cannabis odor, and ban the city from using funds for THC testing, among other changes.

According to Texas NORML Executive Director Jax James, the most recent wave of approval from voters shows that people of Texas want statewide decriminalization. “Texans have shown that they want major cannabis law reforms in Texas via polling, legislative engagement, and now at the local ballot box!” James said. “This will have a positive impact on the almost half a million people living in these cities.” A poll in August also confirmed James’s statement, showing that 55% of Texans support cannabis legalization, and 72% support medical cannabis.

In 2019, the Texas House approved a cannabis decriminalization bill, but it didn’t make it through the Senate. James praises the decriminalization victories won in the November ballot, but wants to see more progress from his state. “While these local advancements are important in mitigating harm on citizens and reprioritizing law enforcement time, they result in a patchwork of differing marijuana enforcement policies based on location,” James added. “It is time for lawmakers to take steps to enact statewide reform when they convene in January 2023.”

In order of population, the top five Texas cities include Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth. In May 2022, voters in Austin approved the “Austin Freedom Act,” which also enabled decriminalized cannabis. “It’s official! Austin will hold an election May 7, 2022 on the Austin Freedom Act. Voters will be able to pass a new city law that (1) ends enforcement of marijuana possession and (2) bans dangerous ‘no knock’ warrants. Thank you to everyone who got us this far—now let’s win!” Ground Game Texas wrote on social media in May.

Next up could be the city of San Antonio, which might have decriminalization on the ballot in May 2023. “These are all things that, for whatever reason, the city government hasn’t accomplished even though there’s public demand for them,” said Ground Game Texas co-founder and political director Mike Siegel. “That’s the beauty of this direct democracy tactic—the initiative tactic—where we can take something that’s popular with the people and the people can legislate directly.”

Although states such as Maryland and Missouri legalized adult-use cannabis this November, voters in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Arkansas did not. Few southern states currently allow adult-use, with the exception of the Virginia (and Washington, D.C.).

Meanwhile, Texas falls behind in progress. Earlier this year in August 2022, former NBA player Iman Shumpert was arrested for possession in Dallas. According to reports, he was carrying 6.2 ounces of cannabis in his luggage while traveling through the airport.

Recently, news outlets began to pick up a story about a single mom, Candace McCarty, who was evicted from federally assisted housing for medical cannabis. “I thought it was all legal, because I obtained it legally from the state,” McCarty told Kxan.com. “I’m just a single mom on disability, and I’m just trying to make it … facing homelessness right before the holidays.” The federally illegal status of cannabis affects countless others like McCarty.

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

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke posted on Twitter some of the “extreme agenda” among these planks as: “abolish abortion, defund public schools, take away health care, repeal gun laws, deny voting rights, reject marijuana legalization.”

The Report of the Permanent 2022 Platform & Resolutions Committee policy list briefly addresses cannabis, marijuana, hemp and synthetic drugs.

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

However, it also uses the term marijuana as well. “Marijuana Remains Illegal: Oppose the legalization of recreational marijuana and offer opportunities for drug treatment before penalties for its illegal possession, use, or distribution.”

Finally, it briefly refers to hemp. “Reduce Business Regulations: We believe that the following businesses should be minimally regulated at all levels,” which among a list of 14 laws in question, it states “Use of hemp as an agricultural commodity.”

The party will still need to formally tally and approve these planks. Until then, it is uncertain if the planks will become officially recognized.

In 2018, the Texas Republican Party endorsed cannabis decriminalization, and also called for a change to the herb’s federal classification of Schedule I.

Earlier this year in January, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has stated his support for cannabis reform with decriminalization. “Marijuana is now a Class C misdemeanor in the state of Texas, and so one thing that I believe in—and I believe the state legislature believes in—and that is prison and jail is a place for dangerous criminals who may harm others, and small possession of marijuana is not the type of violation that we want to stockpile jails with,” said Abbott. “So, we have been making steps in that regard.” However, his statement was incorrect in referencing the current law, with low-level cannabis possession still being a Class B misdemeanor and can lead to up to six months in jail.

A recent poll conducted by The Dallas Morning News and The University of Texas at Tyler, Texas voters from all political parties want to see medical cannabis legalization. According to the poll results released in May, 91% of Democrats, 81% of Independents and 74% of Republicans reported support. The same question asked participants about their support or opposition on adult-use cannabis, but were not as strong as opinions on medical cannabis (76% of Democrats, 64% of Independents and 42% of Republicans respectively).

Meanwhile, cannabis advocates are proceeding along toward decriminalization on the ballot. 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 7. These efforts were driven by Ground Game 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 give Harker Heights residents the opportunity to decriminalize marijuana,” said Ground Game Texas’s Executive Director Julie Oliver in a press release. “Ground Game Texas continues to demonstrate that popular policies around issues like workers, wages, and weed can help expand and electrify the electorate in Texas when they’re put directly in front of voters.”

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This could be a big year for Texas, as there are currently five different decriminalization measures on November ballots from five different cities. It appears that, even though progress is happening slowly, this will be a big year for decriminalization across the super-sized state. 

Last week, activists in Harker Heights with the progressive group Ground Game Texas announced that they have collected enough signatures for a decriminalization measure on their local ballot, making them the fifth city to do so in Texas thus far. All of these cities will be following in the footsteps of Austin, a city that has successfully passed decriminalization. 

In order to be on the ballot in Harker Heights, advocates needed signatures from more than 25% of registered voters, and they exceeded their goal.

“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 give Harker Heights residents the opportunity to decriminalize marijuana,” Julie Oliver, the organization’s executive director, claimed, according to a press release. “Ground Game Texas continues to demonstrate that popular policies around issues like workers, wages, and weed can help expand and electrify the electorate in Texas when they’re put directly in front of voters.”

The goal with the Harker Heights Freedom Act is to ensure that “police officers shall not issue citations or make arrests for Class A or Class B misdemeanor possession of marijuana offenses,” except in certain circumstances such as a violent felony or a felony-level narcotics case that has been “designated as a high priority investigation” by the police. In other words, the goal is to only focus on high-level drug trafficking, not regular folks using cannabis.

If this measure passes, it would also ensure that police can’t give out citations to folks who simply have resonated or otherwise used paraphernalia. This will keep the system clear of those who either have small amounts of cannabis or simply a used pipe. 

In order for this measure to become a reality, city officials will still need to formally authorize the signatures and ensure they are all valid before the measure makes it onto the ballot. This initiative is just one in a broader effort to enact cannabis policy reform one city at a time, since currently in Texas, there is no process to add this to the ballot statewide. 

In the past, Austin proved that this process can work when the city approved a ballot measure to decriminalize cannabis. It also banned no-knock warrants by police in general, all thanks to the work from Ground Game Texas. 

The group also works with Mano Amiga, a criminal justice reform group committed to freeing cannabis customers. They worked with them to make sure there were more than enough signatures to get decriminalization on the ballot in San Marcos as well, continuing the reform sweep across the state. 

Also, in May, Ground Game Texas reported that activists got enough signatures to put decriminalization on the ballot for Killeen too. Similarly, activists have collected enough signatures in Denton as well, and once they are verified, hope to also get that added to the ballot. Lastly, signature collectors have also collected enough signatures in Elgin. 

In each of these cities, local officials on city councils are also able to enact these proposals as municipal law instead of ballot measures, meaning legalization could spread even faster.

As Texas continues to take on decriminalization the slow way, one city at a time, hearts and minds are changing and the overall conversation of legalization is getting closer to become a reality nationwide. 

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Ground Game Texas held a press event on May 25, announcing that the group has collected enough signatures to qualify for the November 2022 ballot. Only 1,000 valid signatures were necessary, but the group collected over 2,400 signatures for submission.

Ground Game Texas was founded in 2021 and seeks to organize and educate Texas communities to fight for issues such as increased minimum wages, Medicaid expansion plans, and cannabis legalization, to name a few. A part of their mission is to consistently inform voters of these issues year-round, and to avoid taking “off-years.”

Executive Director and Co-founder of Ground Game Texas, Julie Oliver, released a statement about the initiative, which is called the Killeen Freedom Act of 2022. “In a quickly growing and thriving community like Killeen, there’s no excuse for the continued over-policing and incarceration of community members for marijuana use,” Oliver said. “On the heels of voters approving our similar initiative in Austin last week, we’re proud to give Killeen voters the same opportunity to end enforcement of marijuana offenses–which disproportionally hurts diverse communities like Killeen.” If passed, this particular initiative would decriminalize cannabis in Killeen, a central Texas town located north of Austin, which no longer allows police to issue class A or class B misdemeanors for cannabis possession.

On May 9, the organization shared that voters in Austin passed Proposition A (also called the Austin Freedom Act) with 85.80% “yes” vote, which decriminalizes cannabis and also prohibits no-knock warrants. “I want to stress that this *would not have happened* if volunteers working in an ‘off year’ hadn’t grabbed clipboards and hit the pavement to gather the 20,000 signatures it took to put this up for a vote,” Oliver stated about the organization’s constant advocacy, according to the Austin Chronicle.

Ground Game Texas is also targeting other local cities of Harker Heights, San Marcos, and Denton for cannabis decriminalization measures as well, with a total of 10 ballot campaigns that the organization is working on.

A new Texas poll, as reported by The Dallas Morning News in May, states that 83% of Texans want to legalize medical cannabis and 60% want to legalize adult-use consumption. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has previously announced his support of reducing penalties for possession, but not legalization. “Marijuana is now a Class C misdemeanor in the state of Texas and so one thing that that I believe in—and I believe the state legislature believes in—and that is prison and jail is a place for dangerous criminals who may harm others, and small possession of marijuana is not the type of violation that we want to stockpile jails with,” Abbott said in January.

Last June, Abbott signed House Bill 1535 to expand the state’s medical cannabis program, which went into effect in September 2021. Now, patients who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or all types of cancer can seek relief through the Texas Compassionate Use Program. The program already included qualifying conditions such as intractable epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS, terminal cancer, autism, and seizure disorders.

However, medical cannabis advocates shared their disappointment in the state’s limitations. Heather Fazio, director of Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, expressed the need for more support. “While we are glad to see the Compassionate Use Program being expanded, it’s disappointing to see Texas inching forward while other states, like Alabama, for example, are moving forward with real medical cannabis programs,” said Fazio. “It’s doing so little, and we wish [lawmakers] were doing more.”

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Voters in Austin, Texas over the weekend approved a ballot proposition that decriminalized cannabis and prohibited the practice of “no-knock warrants” by police. 

A little more than 85% of voters on Saturday approved Proposition A, according to local television station KXAN, which said that the measure will “formalize a city policy put in place in 2020, when then-police chief Brian Manley announced his officers would no longer cite or arrest those accused of misdemeanor pot offenses.” That change in policy came as a result of a unanimous vote by the Austin City Council at the time, KXAN reported. 

Per local TV station KVUE, the measure does not legalize cannabis in Austin, but “ultimately forbids police officers from ticketing and arresting people on low-level marijuana offenses, like possession of small amounts of weed or related paraphernalia, unless tied to a more severe crime.” Additionally, the city “would also not pay to test substances suspected to be marijuana, which is an important step in substantiating drug charges,” according to the station. 

Under the newly passed ordinance, cops in Austin “will not be allowed to issue citations for most Class A or Class B misdemeanor possession offenses,” according to KVUE.

“In Texas, a Class A misdemeanor is possession of 4 ounces or less but more than 2 ounces. A Class B misdemeanor is possession of 2 ounces or less,” according to the station, which said the ordinance takes effect immediately. 

The ordinance, as written, says that Austin police officers will only be permitted to issue citations or make arrests for such Class A or B misdemeanors if it is part of “the investigation of a felony level narcotics case that has been designated as a high priority investigation by an Austin police commander, assistant chief of police, or chief of police,” or if it is part of an investigation of a violent felony.

The new local ordinance is the result of efforts by a group called Ground Game Texas, which led the campaign to get Proposition A on the Austin ballot this year. 

In January, the Austin City Council approved the ballot proposal for the city’s special election that was held on May 7. 

Ground Game Texas collected more than 33,000 signatures––well above the necessary threshold of 20,000 signatures––from Austin voters in order for the measure to qualify for the special election ballot. 

The group celebrated Saturday’s resounding victory, saying that it serves as evidence that voters in the Lone Star State are ready for cannabis reform.

“This lays down an extremely clear marker for the rest of Texas that one, this is something that’s possible. That a city can decide to end marijuana enforcement,” said Ground Game Texas co-founder Mike Siegel, as quoted by Texas public radio station KUT. “And two, that it’s extremely popular.”

The station reported that Ground Game Texas is currently “working on similar ballot items in other Central Texas cities, including San Marcos and Elgin.”

Medical cannabis is legal in Texas, but recreational pot use for adults is not. 

Last year, Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law that expanded the number of qualifying conditions for medical cannabis treatment in the state.

Abbott is up for re-election this year, and there are signs that cannabis legalization could emerge as a major issue in the campaign. The incumbent’s Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke, has repeatedly voiced his support for ending the prohibition on pot throughout the race.

“Legalizing marijuana is the right thing to do. We can stop locking Texans up for a substance that’s legal in much of the rest of the country and allow police to focus on violent crime. And it’ll bring in nearly $1 billion a year in new state revenue and taxpayer savings,” O’Rourke said on Twitter in January.

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