Austin City Council Member Greg Casar is proposing the decriminalization of nearly all misdemeanor marijuana offenses in Austin.
Casar is putting forward a resolution in reaction to House Bill 1325, which was signed into law last year and made hemp legal for farming but had the unintended consequence of making marijuana testing in criminal cases far more cumbersome. The law has led many district attorneys, including those in Travis and Williamson counties, to not prosecute low-level marijuana charges.
Casar’s resolution will be taken up at the council’s Jan. 23 meeting. It would prohibit Austin police from issuing citations or fines for misdemeanor marijuana possession or making arrests related to the offense, unless the subject poses a danger to the public.
“I don’t think everyday Austinites want to see us chasing down people for low-level marijuana possession,” Casar said. “We want to pursue those cases as little as possible and actually pursue things that make us safer.”
LEARN MORE: Click here to read the resolution
Austin police already have been directed to not make arrests in low-level marijuana possession cases. However, Casar’s resolution goes further by prohibiting police from issuing citations.
The resolution also would prevent the city from spending any funds or devoting personnel to pursue new testing methods required to distinguish hemp from marijuana, according to the resolution.
It also would prohibit testing for THC, the narcotic chemical in marijuana, in any misdemeanor possession cases in which a suspect did not intend to sell the drug.
Council Members Delia Garza, Jimmy Flannigan and Natasha Harper-Madison are co-sponsors of the resolution. Along with Casar, those council members make up the council’s judicial committee. With their support already in hand, Casar will only need to convince two more members of the left-leaning body to get enough votes to pass the resolution.
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley has said he does not support the nonenforcement of marijuana laws, telling the American-Statesman in September that he believed a lack of enforcement would lead to violence related to drug trafficking.
“I do not believe as the police chief in Austin that I would be making our city any safer by not enforcing the law,” Manley said.
Credit: Source link
