During Texas’ last legislative session, we saw more cannabis reform bills introduced than ever before but ultimately we were unable to address one of the most urgent concerns for our cause: the decriminalization of cannabis.
In spite of the fact that HB 63, which called for reducing penalties for misdemeanor cannabis possession under an ounce, passed through the state house with an overwhelming majority, our Lieutenant Governor decided to unilaterally block that bill from proceeding any further into the State Senate. His intentions are clearly based on maintaining the status quo at any cost. That is to keep arresting Texans over the victimless crime of using a natural substance that has been used for countless millennia for legitimate therapeutic, social and entheogenic purposes.
In fact, even though more states have legalized or decriminalized cannabis in some fashion, more people are getting arrested for cannabis than ever before with the Lone Star state leading the way in terms of arrests (In 2016, 12% of all cannabis cases occurred in Texas). Given that our state lawmakers only meet every two years, we would have to wait until 2021 before we can see any kind of state-wide change initiated by our legislators on cannabis, or other drug policy and criminal justice reform issues.
This means that unless we take direct action to create change at the local level by getting our communities to adopt decriminalization resolutions, our state will simply continue its immoral deprivation of rights from thousands of otherwise innocent Texans. Now is arguably the best time to pursue this local strategy of drug policy reform. With the passage of HB 1325, which legalized any cannabis at or below 0.3% THC, certain counties have opted to outright dismiss most misdemeanor cannabis possession cases until funds for testing equipment become available.
In the counties where district attorneys are no longer prosecuting misdemeanor cannabis possession, we have a unique position to call on our city leaders to demand that local law enforcement agencies respect the will of the people and stop arresting folks for crimes that will be dismissed anyway.
There are many different ways to approach this strategy. For instance, I am one of the key organizers for two new campaigns in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that seek to decriminalize cannabis as well as other natural entheogens through finding city council members willing to sponsor our resolutions. The effort in Denton is focused on decriminalizing cannabis whereas as the other campaign, Decriminalize Nature Dallas, seeks to not only decriminalize cannabis but also natural entheogens such as psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline-containing cacti, iboga, ayahuasca plants, and salvia divinorum. Additionally, the latter proposal would also decriminalize the non-commercialized cultivation, purchase, transportation, and distribution of these natural substances in an effort to restore our relationship to nature. So far my recent experiences with organizing drug policy reform campaigns in North Texas has taught me the importance of knowing which specific reforms are viable in your own community.
If you are serious about creating this kind of local change, I would suggest starting by finding a way to engage with and mobilize community support. This is necessary because not only does it help bring people to your cause, but you also increase the odds of meeting someone who knows one of your city leaders on a personal level- always ideal for establishing a connection.
Furthermore, because drug laws disproportionately impact black, brown and LGBTQ+ communities, it is particularly critical to invite folks in these groups to help organize and lead these campaigns. Since ballot-based initiatives are not possible in our state, we ought to focus on getting our city governments and district attorneys to instigate sensible reform, and show our state leaders that we will no longer sit idly by while countless lives are upended for the futile and counterproductive War on Drugs.