In the weeks leading up to 4/20 this year, Texas Cannabis Collective reported on the group Decriminalize Denton, a mostly student-led organization with the goal of decriminalizing cannabis throughout the entire Northern Texas city.
In a city that’s home to multiple universities and thousands of college students that are familiar with cannabis, the strictly prohibited status of cannabis has resulted in far more minor yet damaging criminal infractions than ever needed. Even though a majority of cases involving cannabis possession are victimless in nature, the lasting socio-economic impact of cannabis possession cases can be lifelong.
To remedy this injustice partially brought on by inaction from the mostly older conservative City Council, Decriminalize Denton began collecting signatures for a citywide measure that would greatly reduce the penalties associated with cannabis possession in Texas. Instead of a class B misdemeanor (the bare minimum) and possibly an arrest record depending on the mood of the police officer, the measure would decriminalize possession of up to four ounces. This is along with several more far-reaching reforms that would prevent unjust hardship upon entire communities in Denton.
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“Our new ordinance wants to decriminalize all the way up to four ounces because that’s the amount of a Class A misdemeanor.” explained Decriminalize Denton founder Tristan Seikel.
“And we’re also wanting to stop the use of city funds for testing that can be used to validate whether concentrates and flower have THC in them. In essence, what our petition seeks to do is ban arresting someone for a Class A or Class B misdemeanor possession offense. It would also ban the use of a Class B paraphernalia ticket in lieu of an arrest for cannabis possession.”
Along with the criminal reform, the measure would do away with criminal fines for cannabis completely. While a tragedy for any frequent cannabis user, the worst penalty for possession being a confiscated stash is far more preferable to a criminal record and arrest. On the procedural law side, the measure would also eliminate the element of cannabis odor from what would be considered “probable cause” for police officers. Further, city funds wouldn’t be used for THC concentration testing unless the accompanying evidence is in relation to either a violent crime or a major drug trafficking case.
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Since our first article regarding Decriminalize Denton collecting signatures for a possible November cannabis reform ballot initiative, the organization did in fact collect the number of required signatures. Actually, there had been a notable surplus of signatures collected.
The first big update that Seikel mentioned was that the measure on the November ballot to decriminalize cannabis in Denton officially has a title, Proposition B.
Seikel also reported that the prohibitionist mindset of certain members of Denton City Council, including mayor Gerard Hudspeth, are still very much present.
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“They bought into this wrong idea that cannabis decriminalization will somehow increase the amount of unsolved crime. Whereas all the corresponding research on that, if anything, cannabis decriminalization plays no role in the creation of new crime.” Seikel explained.
“If the mayor were serious about solving crime, he would look into the social and economic causes of crime that actually put people in that situation to begin with. But of course, they don’t want to do that either. They like the presentation of being tough on crime, but they don’t actually want to do the hard work of implementing the real solution of solving crime.”
As for the aforementioned surplus of required signatures, Seikel is happy to report that the petition received nearly double the amount of required signatures. While the number of signatures needed for the measure to have a chance on the November ballot was only 1750 or so, the petition received about 3000 signatures in total.
It’s important to note that while Proposition 2 has yet to be voted on, Seikel did mention the policy that Denton law enforcement has apparently mostly enacted in recent years. A policy where low-level possession of cannabis flower will be enforced as a Class C misdemeanor. An offense on par with a traffic citation. While this policy is certainly one that will result in far less cannabis arrests in Denton, Proposition B would greatly expand upon that reform.
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“It’s ironic that we live in a town where the police can get the ball rolling on cannabis reform and the state legislators can, but the people’s can’t. So, that’s been the catalyst behind launching this local ballot initiative. We can give everyday Dentonites a chance to have a voice on this matter instead of having their leaders keep saying that we can’t do all that much, but here we are doing things. Lo and behold, they’re still moving that ball forward,” Seikel stated
Even though there’s still a couple weeks until the November election, Seikel and Decriminalize Denton are hopeful regardless, describing cannabis legalization in Texas as “having a degree of inevitability.” A poll conducted by both the Dallas Morning News, showed that 72 percent of registered voters surveyed support at least medical cannabis legalization. In fact, 67 percent of surveyed Republicans supported cannabis reform.
Seikel noted, “In spite of any hurdles that may occur, we feel confident that voters will say yes to this.”
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Seikel’s optimism of passing the measure is supported by the number of Texas Republican lawmakers who’ve previously shown support for cannabis reform. This support has been with both public statements and a voting record. Texas Cannabis Collective has repeatedly covered how publicly supportive of medical cannabis expansion that Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is. Even then, it’s worth remembering that 34 different Texas Republicans in the state House of Representatives voted in favor of the unsuccessful House Bill 63 in 2019 which would have decriminalized statewide.
Further proof that cannabis reform in Texas is spreading despite inaction from the legislature and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, San Marcos will be voting on a similar cannabis reform measure in November. In Killeen, voters will also be deciding on an equally similar measure with the exact same elements of Proposition 2 in Denton and the measure in San Marcos.
Seikel and Decriminalize Denton believe that stopping the arrest of low-level cannabis offenders will have a positive domino effect in Texas’ criminal justice system. If one doesn’t get arrested for low-level cannabis possession and enter the criminal justice system to begin with, then significant disadvantages in life will be avoided in response. It’ll certainly be a true deterrent from other possible criminal activity as well if a life in the criminal justice system could possibly be avoided entirely.