The Texas Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in a case involving the state overturning a local decriminalization of marijuana law, which was passed by the voters of San Marcus.
About five months after the state Fifteenth Court of Appeals rejected a lower court ruling that denied a temporary injunction to prevent the law from being enforced, the state Supreme Court on Friday sidestepped the case.
Catina Vogelinger, Executive Director of Ground Game Texas (which was responsible for this reform measure and many others) said that the Texas Supreme Court had refused to take up this case. It sided with Greg Abbott’s selected judges, telling San Marcos residents their voice did not count.
This isn’t just about marijuana. Voellinger stated that the issue is whether or not working Texans are allowed to make their own decisions as per Texas Constitution.
The lower court’s ruling—and this subsequent Supreme Court inaction—marks a setback for activists who’ve led the charge to enact local marijuana policy changes through the ballot, many of which have been contested by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).
Texas is the state with the most working-class people in the United States. Most of us earn $15 per hour or less. Voellinger said that while millionaire politicians, like Greg Abbott or Ken Paxton, twist the law to protect their donors and them themselves. We know what’s going on, even though they don’t. We are aware of how much they must have struggled to stay here. Because they are aware of the fact that we have the power, they spend their entire time trying to stop us. “We are constructing a movement which cannot be stopped.”
Eric Martinez, executive director of Mano Amiga Action that partnered with Ground Game for the San Marcos initiative, said the high court’s decision represents a “direct attack on local democracy and on the working people of San Marcos—Black, Brown, white, immigrant, and poor—who came together to demand a better future.”
The Texas Supreme Court was given the chance to defend the voters’ will, but chose to do otherwise. Decriminalization was passed in our localities because people were sick of being locked up for small amounts of marijuana while the real needs of public safety are not addressed. We may outnumber the judges, but they are still stacked. The rich and powerful will not decide our fate. “This fight is ours: we will all grow in strength from here.”
In the ruling of the appellate courts, it was determined that the trial court which upheld the city’s law had “abused their discretion” by denying certain requests made by the state asserting its constitutional right to override the local government. The court said, in particular, that the state’s statute prohibits local governments to erect any obstacle against full enforcement of drugs-related laws.
“Texas law gives local governments and law enforcement officers a panoply of tools—such as the authority to issue citations and arrests—to enforce drug laws. The City of San Marcos is prohibited from adopting any policy under Section 370.003 that would remove these options.
The court went on to say that “no magic words” were required for the Legislature’s preemption of the Ordinance. The court stated that “a plain and fair interpretation of the Ordinance shows irreconcilable contradictions with section 370.003.”
San Marcos is one of five cities that voters in the November 2022 elections approved decriminalization measures after Ground Game Texas, Mano Amiga Action and advocates obtained ballot placement.
It was prohibited for police to issue citations of arrests based on class A and B misdemeanor marijuana offenses. There were some exceptions like if it related to an investigation involving a serious narcotics crime.
In addition, the measure stated that police could not issue citations based on residues or paraphernalia instead of an actual possession charge. The odor of marijuana could not be used as the sole basis for an arrest or search.
A number of courts have decided in the favor of advocates, despite state resistance and recent events in San Marcos.
For example, in February, a Texas judge has ruled that a cannabis decriminalization law approved by Dallas voters last year can continue to be implemented—denying a request from the state attorney general that sought to temporarily block the reform as a lawsuit proceeds.
The lawsuit filed by Paxton has not been thrown out. At least temporarily, however, the judge decided that the policy of decriminalization could continue while the litigation proceeds.
Dallas Police Department had previously instructed officers to stop arresting or citing people for possession of up to four ounces of marijuana, in accordance with the voter-approved ballot initiative.
Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican governor from Texas, has attacked the efforts of local governments to legalize cannabis.
“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said last May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. We should legislate so that we can ensure the state as a whole will adopt some laws.
The state’s statute would be a “chaos”, and voters could “pick and choose” which laws to follow in their city.
Abbott has previously said that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—although he mistakenly suggested at the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.
In 2023, Ground Game released a report that looked at the impacts of the marijuana reform laws. The report found that these measures would keep hundreds out of prison, even though they had led to a backlash from the law enforcement agencies in certain cities. According to the report, these initiatives also drove voter turnout because they were on the ballot.
Another cannabis decriminalization measure that went before voters in San Antonio that year was overwhelmingly defeated, but that proposal also included unrelated provisions to prevent enforcement of abortion restrictions.
In Texas, a heated debate has been going on in the Texas legislature about Texas hemp policies. Some are pushing to ban any cannabis-containing products. The efforts to ban cannabis products containing THC failed in the special and regular sessions of this year.
In response, the governor signed an executive Order last week requiring age restrictions and labels on hemp products.
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Separately, Texas officials have taken another step toward implementing a law to significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana program—proposing rules to to let physicians recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis and to create standards for allowable inhalation devices in line with legislation enacted by lawmakers and the governor earlier this year.
Last month, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) separately posted a set of additional rules in the Register to increase the number of licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Texas under the recently enacted legislation.
DPS eventually will issue 12 licenses per dispensary in all of the states. There are currently only three. Officials prioritize Texas’ public health regions in order to improve access.
Nine of the 139 applicants that submitted forms in a previous application window, 2023, will receive the first round. DPS will choose these nine licensees by December 1. The applicants who did not receive a licence in 2023, and any potential licensees that are new, will get another chance to obtain their licenses during the second round, where winners will be announced April 1, 2026.
The group 2023 can revise its applications until 15 September. Until that date, new applicants for dispensaries can submit their own applications.
AnonMoos. Image element.
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