Texas Judge has rejected the Republican Attorney General’s attempts to stop a decriminalization of marijuana in the locality that was approved by voters at last year’s election.
Dale Tillery, the judge of the 134th civil district court in New York City, denied the motion by the Attorney General Ken Paxton to temporarily injunct the enforcement of the cannabis prohibition law in the city with the third highest population in New York State.
In the one-page ruling, the judge says: “Upon considering the pleadings and the application as well as the responses, evidence presented, oral arguments, if there were any, this Court determines that the Application is DENIED.”
The Dallas Police Department had instructed its officers to cease arresting and citing individuals for possessing up to 4 ounces marijuana in compliance with the ballot initiative approved by voters.
Paxton filed a suit with the intention to invalidate the laws just weeks after November’s vote. The state official is using the courts as a tool to reverse the local cannabis reform efforts.
In recent years, many Texas cities passed local decriminalization legislation. Last January, the Attorney General attempted to stop the reforms in Austin, San Marcos and Denton.
State district judges dismissed two of the lawsuits—which argue that state law prohibiting marijuana preempts the local policies—in Austin and San Marcos. Elgin has reached a settlement with local officials who pointed out the decriminalization initiative was not implemented despite its approval by voters.
Dallas’ lawmakers officially placed the decriminalization of marijuana initiative on ballots in August, after activists had submitted sufficient petitions. Cannabis icon and music legend Willie Nelson had urged Dallas voters to pass the marijuana measure.
Prior to last August’s vote on ballot placement, some members of the Dallas City Council had expressed interest in streamlining the process of decriminalizing cannabis by acting legislatively, but plans to introduce the proposal at a hearing in June did not materialize, leaving the matter to voters.
The Dallas Law achieves the following:
- It prevents police officers from issuing or making arrests in relation to misdemeanor Class A or class B cannabis offenses unless they are part of a high-priority felony investigation involving narcotics and violent crimes.
- It also states that “Dallas Police shall not consider an odor of hemp or marijuana to be probable cause” for any seizure or search.
- The city manager and chief of police is required to prepare quarterly reports on the implementation of the policy change, with information about any marijuana possession arrests or citations that must be submitted to the Dallas City Council.
The voters of Lockhart, Texas and Bastrop also voted to decriminalize local ordinances at their ballots in November.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R), the Governor of Texas, has slammed municipal efforts to reform cannabis laws.
“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said in May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s work together to ensure that as a collective, the state will be able to pass some law.
The state’s statutes would be changed to allow voters to choose which laws to follow in their city. This, he said, could lead to chaos and an unworkable system.
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.
If a bill introduced this week by an important House leader becomes law, Texas will decriminalize low-level possession of marijuana.
Paxton used harsher language when his office said it would sue five cities for their decriminalizing laws. He also promised to end the “anarchy,” of the “pro-crime extremes” that advocated the reform.
In 2023, Ground Game released a report that looked at the impacts of the marijuana reform laws. In 2023, Ground Game released a report that examined the impacts of marijuana reform laws. It concluded that hundreds of people will avoid jail even though some cities have experienced repercussions from law enforcement. Report said that the initiatives had also increased voter participation by appearing on ballots.
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.
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Meanwhile, Rep. Joe Moody (D)’s marijuana decriminalization bill for the 2025 session is the latest of nearly two dozen cannabis-related proposals filed so far in Texas for the current legislative session. Other measures include legalizing adult-use cannabis, banning certain hemp-derived goods, removing criminal penalties for possession of cannabis, and adjusting the existing state medical marijuana laws.
Moody sponsored a similar marijuana decriminalization bill last legislative session, in 2023. That measure, HB 218, passed the House on an 87–59 vote but later died in a Senate committee.
The House had already passed earlier cannabis decriminalization proposals during the two previous legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But the efforts have consistently stalled in the Senate amid opposition from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Republican who preside over this chamber.
Patrick directed last year a Senate Committee to study issues surrounding beverages that contain THC, and draft legislation banning the sale of hemp-based intoxicants.
Recently, the lieutenant-governor cited a recent survey showing that over half of Texans (55%) want to see Texans’ hemp-derived THC market regulated. But he simultaneously ignored the survey’s other findings: that even more Texans want the state to legalize and regulate marijuana for both medical and adult use.
According to the polling conducted by the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs (79%) nearly four in five Texans (79%) support the legalization of the use and sale of medical cannabis with a physician’s prescription, and more than three in five (62%) support the legalization and regulation of an adult-use marijuana market.
Nearly 7 out of 10 people (69%) believe that the state should not criminalize personal marijuana use.
In the survey, there is bipartisan agreement on each of these reforms.
Patrick got it right when he said that the majority of Texans believe cannabis laws need to be changed: only 22 percent of respondents favored maintaining current marijuana laws in Texas.
Patrick has repeatedly targeted hemp-derived THC during his tenure in office. Most recently, he included legislation that would prohibit the products on his priority bill list. And he endorsed past legislation that would ban all forms of consumable THC in the state.
You can find the Texas district judge’s decision in the Dallas marijuana case here:
Pennsylvania Agriculture Department Is In A ‘Really Good’ Position To Oversee Marijuana Legalization Under Governor’s Plan, Secretary Says
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