Three more Texas cities, including Dallas, poised to vote on pot decriminalization

Activists appear to have collected enough signatures to put marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in three more Texas cities, according to advocacy group NORML.

If recently circulated petitions are certified by officials in Bastrop, Dallas and Lockhart, voters in those municipalities will decide at the November ballot box whether to ban local police from busting people for low-level pot possession, NORML reports.

Voters in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen and San Marcos already have approved similar measures. Petition drives by reform groups also landed those proposals on local ballots.

Meanwhile, Lubbock voters rejected decriminalization during a May referendum. A similar measure failed with San Antonio voters in 2023, largely because it tied decriminalization to a larger bundle of criminal justice reforms, some of which drew strong opposition from business groups.

In February, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued to strike down decriminalization measures approved by voters in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen and San Marcos, claiming the cities were promoting "illicit drugs that harm our communities.” 

A Travis County district judge tossed out Paxton's suit, arguing the Republican attorney general had no legal justification to file the case. Paxton is expected to appeal.

Texas is one of just 19 states where police can still jail people for possessing small amounts of weed, according to a recent Marijuana Policy Project analysis.

Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter| Or sign up for our RSS Feed