With Lubbock city leaders set to consider a citizen-initiated proposed ordinance to decriminalize cannabis on Tuesday, a Texas advocacy group has released a report looking at the impacts of similar marijuana reform efforts passed by voters in five different jurisdictions during the 2022 election. It found that the measures will keep hundreds of people out of jail, even as they have led to blowback from law enforcement in some cities.
The report, from Ground Game Texas, looks at local decriminalization reforms adopted in Killeen, San Marcos, Denton, Harker Heights and Elgin. Julie Oliver, executive director for the group, said she hopes the report “inspires more grassroots organizing in communities across the state.”
“Ground Game has worked with local community organizations in these five cities to engage voters, adopt popular policies, advance meaningful criminal justice reform, and save millions of dollars in public resources,” she said in a statement released with the report on Wednesday. “Through the issue of marijuana reform, we’re helping Texans realize that their voice matters, that their vote matters, and that they can shape their own destiny through civic engagement.”
The measures have generally decriminalized marijuana possession at the local level, but in some cases they’ve also
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