Taking Steps Toward Cannabis Law Reform In Texas
This week I am writing about pending
Cannabis law reform in Texas. Particularly about H.B. 184 which has now passed through
the Jurisprudence Committee and is to be heard on the house floor for a full
debate. In its original form this bill was an attempt to lessen penalties for possession
of less than one once Cannabis from a Class B misdemeanor to a ticketable
offence.
However the bill in its entirety did not make
it through the committee instead it was changed so that first time offenders
under the age of twenty one would be protected from incarceration. While this
is somewhat of a disappointment to Texas activists we can all agree that this
is a step in the right direction. For the first time the issue of marijuana law
reform will has the chance to be heard by all of Texas’s State Representatives on
the House floor.
The only thing at the moment
standing in front of this is the Calendars Committee which handles the scheduling
of the hearings and with thousands of bills on the waiting list it is still a
huge possibility that there will not be time in this session to have a hearing
on this bill. If the bill is not heard by the end of this session it would then
have to start the process all over again two years from now during the next
session.
Every day the movement to end the
war on drugs grows and it will continue to do so. I encourage you all to educate
yourselves on this matter and show the leaders of this great state that we the
people are who they are meant to serve. That just because they may hold office
today does not mean that we cannot remove them tomorrow we are not going away
and we will be heard. Write your representative today, You and find out who they are here http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/. Also join us on May 5, 2013 for the Texas Marijuana March when we ill march from Austin city hall to the capitol. We will be meeting up at city hall around 3:00 pm and leaving around 3:30pm. hope to see yall there.
I agree with you, Lee. People are beginning to realize marijuana is not the devil's candy like it was made out to be many years ago, and advances in medicine are proving it to be much more valuable today in the search for treatments for cancer. Imagine all the time and effort law enforcement has made trying to crack down on marijuana, when they could be making greater efforts to find and bust other hardcore drug dealers.
ReplyDeleteThough this bill is a step, like you said, it is still a step towards the possibility of legalization, and a less crowded jail system, full of people that are not really criminals. As conservative as this state is, it is surprising that something like this made its way into the legislature, but in my opinion, I don’t think it will be reviewed in this session like Lee described. I think in Texas, people have not come to that step yet, but as more and more states become more lenient with it, the citizens will kind of open their eyes about this topic. In my opinion, I think marijuana should be legalized at least for medical reasons. It is hard to deny the medical purposes for marijuana, but I also don’t think most of the public is ready to handle marijuana for recreational purposes.