Tag Archives: Marijuana
In Historic Vote, Texas House OKs Bill to Soften Penalties for Marijuana Possession
Despite approval in the House, a powerful Senate Democrat, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Governor Greg Abbott could still stand in the way of the proposal becoming law.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said on Twitter that House Bill 63 is “dead in the Texas Senate,” further confirming what Democr...Read More
Dallas County DA John Creuzot Calls New Reforms ‘A Step Forward in Ending Mass Incarceration’
The policies announced Thursday range from refusing to prosecute certain drug cases to reforming probation and changing how the office handles crimes related to poverty and homelessness.
Last year, Dallas was ground zero in the national movement to elect prosecutors willing to help shrink the bloated carceral state. The race for Dallas County DA...Read More
Third Time’s The Charm? Marijuana Decriminalization Gets Another Chance in Texas
The first marijuana reform bill heard in committee this session would downgrade possession of an ounce to a civil offense and a fine up to $250.
Police chiefs from Plano, North Richland Hills and Grand Prairie told a Texas House committee on Monday that marijuana is a dangerous gateway drug that leads to...Read More
The Tattooed Star of the ‘Progressive Prosecutor’ Movement Braces for His First Death Penalty Trial
Mark Gonzalez wants a jury to help him decide whether Nueces County should keep sending people to death row.
In mid-January 2017, a couple of days after Mark Gonzalez was sworn in as Nueces County’s new district attorney, a deputy prosecutor approached him to ask how...Read More
Texas Governor Greg Abbott Opens His Mind to Marijuana Decriminalization… Kinda
Activists say Abbott’s moderated stance is “huge,” but his call for reform still lags behind Texas Republicans and the general public.
For the past three years, Governor Greg Abbott has been viewed as a primary hurdle to rewriting Texas’ draconian marijuana laws. So on Friday, when he reveale...Read More
Reformers Hopeful the 2019 Legislature will Expand Texas’ Medical Marijuana Law
Activists are mapping a path to end arrests for possession and broaden the state's medical marijuana program ahead of the next legislative session.
Shortly after returning to Washington state in 2007 from a 16-month deployment in Afghanistan, retired U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant April Martinez began suffer...Read More
In Austin, ‘Discretionary’ Arrests for Petty Crimes Skew Blacker, Browner Than City Population
Austin Police Department officers used their discretion to arrest black defendants at a rate more than double that of either whites or Latinos last year.
In Texas, the consequences of getting caught with pot are a crapshoot. While the state has some of the most draconian and nonsensical marijuana laws on the book...Read More
San Antonio, Dallas Primaries Could Usher in Prosecutors Who Promise a More Equal Criminal Justice System
Reformers have targeted Texas primary races where candidates promise bail reform and jail diversion.
South Texas can create a curious kind of conservative-leaning Democrat, but bizarre behavior by Nicholas “Nico” LaHood during his first term as Bexar County...Read More
Meet Nueces County’s New DA, a Self-Professed ‘Mexican Biker Lawyer Covered in Tattoos’
Mark Gonzalez is listed as a gang member in police databases, has "not guilty" tattooed on his chest and is hoping to bring reform to Corpus Christi.
Early this year, border agents ran a name-check and wound up briefly detaining Mark Gonzalez as he traveled home to Corpus Christi after a vacation in Mexico. T...Read More