Over the past half decade that I’ve covered cannabis almost exclusively from a journalistic sense, I have bore witness to cannabis being legalized for medical and/or adult use or decriminalized in places I never thought possible. Montana, Mississippi, Virginia, almost South and North Dakota, Alaska and so many other locations with strong prohibitionists still in power. However, this may be the groundbreaking and somewhat personal news I never thought I’d never thought I’d have the honor of covering.
But as the state of Texas ventures even further into purple state territory, the laws behind cannabis are slowly changing, emphasis on slowly. Texas’ biggest cities and smaller cities such as San Marcos are beginning to either vote or discuss decriminalization measures for solely being caught with small amounts of cannabis. For the many college students who face severe backlash from the university and possibly the ruining of their academic careers over miniscule amounts of cannabis, these measures would be extremely beneficial as only those with the hardest of authoritative erections would want to see an innocent college student’s life ruined due to a victimless “offense.”
Forever and ever, Denton will always hold the most fond of memories in my heart partially clogged due to too much brisket. My home for the happiest and mostly care-free four years of my life, where I went from an innocent child fresh-faced to all the vices I had been sheltered from that would later consume me into a young 22-year-old man ready to take on the world, albeit with a little Millennial trepidation. Almost every first of my life, from the first stable group of friends and social life to the first time actually having fun at an event that resembled Prom to the first time truly feeling happy where I lived and genuinely using the word “home” to describe it. And of course, the obvious first that almost always comes to one’s mind when reminiscing about their teen to early-20 years.
In the Home of Happiness according to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I lived the strangest and most eccentric coming of age tale, almost like a Wes Anderson movie but with more binge drinking and fraternity drama. I found more of myself in those four-ish years than I did living eighteen years of boredom, bullying and later apathy in Spring. Denton, and the hundreds of interesting people I befriended or otherwise became acquainted with, served as the hosts of my first times getting high and enjoying the popularity and culture behind cannabis.
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However, I knew we were outlaws and would forever remain so as long as this plant stayed illegal. And so, every single one of the hundreds of times I consumed cannabis during my years of living in Denton, I knew I had technically been committing a criminal offense every time. I never became a true cannabis advocate until years after moving out of Denton and the thought of moving out to Las Vegas to work in a legal cannabis industry seemed like a pipe dream, no pun intended on pipe dream.
Although due to the tireless work of several different organizations located in the North Texas town that became my first love, draconian cannabis prohibition may soon become a bitter memory of the past.
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For years, the heavily Conservative-majority City Council refused to move the needle even a millimeter on the subject of cannabis reform in Denton. Formed from the influence of UNT student organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the legacy of Denton NORML, Decriminalize Denton is dead set on low-level cannabis possession becoming not even being listed as a Class C misdemeanor in the hometown of the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University.
To their credit, some of Decriminalize Denton’s members already have a major victory under their advocacy belt. Through SSDP, the UNT students were able to lessen and reform the campus policy when it comes to drug possession. Originally and I speak from personal experience in bearing witness to these damaging measures, the disciplinary measures when caught with a drug more severe than alcohol was extensive. While not necessarily expulsion, punishments can range from being kicked out of student housing to losing access to on-campus dining halls. From getting the support of both the undergraduate student council and the postgraduate council, SSDP along with co-founder Tristan Seikel was able to lessen those penalties and actually provide the same care that students caught with alcohol would.
“They (Dean of Students’ office) met with us and explained that they have shifted their disciplinary policies to be more in line with harm reduction.” Seikel explained. “If they’re caught with illicit substances, they won’t immediately get kicked off. Instead, they will get extra support and actually get help in navigating the legal circumstances they’ve found themselves in.”
While the campus policies were luckily lessened, The heavily conservative Denton City Council refused to hear any matters related to cannabis reform and so, Decriminalize Denton was formed. Created to separate themselves from UNT and show that the matter of cannabis decriminalization in Denton could be a measure that would benefit the entire city as opposed to only UNT or TWU students, the organization advocates to the city why less serious cannabis possession would actually be beneficial for Dentonites.
In 2020, the Democrats of Denton received three more seats on Denton City Council and with this change in power came new legislative possibilities. However as is clearly apparent given the Legislative branch of the US Government, more Liberal-leaning seats doesn’t always mean immediate cannabis reform.
“We thought we had the right council to go forward and make some changes, at least similar to what Austin has.” Seikel said.
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A work session was awarded to Decriminalize Denton and the City Council to possibly discuss the aspect of decriminalization. Yet, the newly elected City Council still seemed apprehensive to the efforts of Decriminalize Denton and the possibility of cannabis being less heavily prohibited in the city of almost 150,000.
“This past summer, we worked on getting data from the local police on the racial and ethnic breakdown of cannabis arrests in 2020 and the financial costs of that year for Denton to do THC testing. We were also working with a lawyer in DFW that would help us draft out an ordinance to match the Denton City Charter. Once we had that ordinance, we outlined why we needed a new work session discussing decriminalization followed by Councilwoman Deb Arminter giving a pitch for that and got five yes votes to that pitch.”
supporting Decriminalize Denton’s measure.
With Arminter’s support and a now more receptive City Council, a workshop to take place in January was announced for cannabis decriminalization. However, whereas Seikel and DD thought that the workshop would be “a discussion of how marijuana is enforced currently as well as a discussion on what changes are being done locally and statewide”, what occurred instead of the Chief of Police for Denton speaking to the City Council about “how great their changes already are.”
Not to mention Denton mayor Gerald Hudspeth is very much against any cannabis reform in Denton.
Denton police are referring to the policies that some officers are enacting where low level cannabis possession could be instantly knocked down to a Class C misdemeanor charge for only paraphernalia, far less serious than Class B. However, the argument presents itself that if Denton police are already not enforcing the law at their own discretion, why not go ahead with reforming the law entirely?
The Chief of Police essentially said that no more changes can be made because both the police and the judges are working at their absolute legal capacity for leniency and no more reforms could be made on the local level.
“It made our ordinance dead in the water.” Seikel explained.
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However through the willpower that’s very present in Texas cannabis advocates, Seikel and DD soldiered on. Eventually, a new ordinance proposal was drafted, one that’s certainly progressive for Texas and one that Hudspeth will likely object to.
“Our new ordinance wants to decriminalize all the way up to four ounces because that’s the amount of a Class A misdemeanor. 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.”
The petition would also rid away civil fines entirely. Although it’s not the inhumane conditions of jail, a multi-hundred dollar ticket could severely impact a family financially struggling just to get by. By not imposing those debts, cannabis policies could lessen their already irreparable damage to disadvantaged communities.
Recently, Texas Cannabis Collective paired up with Decriminalize Denton for a press conference to announce their signature gathering campaign and plans to collect signatures for a measure that Denton voters will have the option to vote on in an upcoming election.
on the steps of the Denton Square Courthouse.
Ideally, the worst outcome of a Dentonite being caught with less than four ounces of cannabis and committing no other offenses would be the confiscation of their stash. No arrest, no criminal record and no dealing with the decades of disadvantages that come with a criminal record.
The petition would also ban the usage of cannabis odor being considered probable cause for searching a car or home.
The total number of valid signatures needed for the petition are 3,000 and the date to collect those signatures by is, no joke, on 4/20. Once those necessary signatures are collected and verified by the Secretary of State, cannabis decriminalization will be on the local November 2022 ballot. A coordinated effort with the progressive group Ground Game Texas, the petition could drastically change how cannabis possession cases are currently prosecuted and policed in the City of Denton as well as greater Denton County as a whole.