Texas cops in shock as Dallas votes to decriminalize marijuana despite their warnings
Despite police warnings not to decriminalize marijuana, voters in a Democratic stronghold in Texas voted for it anyway.
With 66% support, Dallas voters supported Proposition Rthat amends the city statute to decriminalize possession of four ounces or less of the drug, local outlets reported.
These measures make pursuing offenders the lowest priority for the Dallas Police Department.
The city’s police chief pleaded with citizens in August not to do so, saying the law would help drug dealers, not regular drug users.
“And who thrives: Drug dealers and drug houses are thriving — drug houses and dealers that are already destroying the quality of life in our most at-risk neighborhoods,” former Police Chief Eddie Garcia said in August.
Former Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia publicly warned against decriminalizing marijuana, arguing it would make it harder to go after drug dealers
He held up a huge plastic bag containing the narcotic and showed the Dallas City Council exactly what that amount of weed looked like.
“Four ounces is approximately 113 grams, which is 113 bags of dimes,” Garcia explained, adding that the amount is equivalent to 138 drug transactions.
The city’s top cop linked pot to 17 murders in Dallas in 2023 and 12 this year.
“The conversation about marijuana is not victimless,” he said. “Not only will it lead to an increase in drug house trafficking in our most vulnerable neighborhoods, but in my 32 years in law enforcement, I believe it could also lead to an increase in illegal sales.”
The measure ended up on the Nov. 5 ballot after a group called Dallas Action collected 20,000 signatures, forcing the wad to appear before voters.
Dallas’ police chief linked dozens of murders in the city to marijuana sales
Passage of Prop R means Dallas police will make prosecuting drug offenders caught with 4 ounces of weed the lowest priority
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued several Texas cities that have tried to pass a similar law decriminalizing marijuana
“Our jail is full of people arrested for misdemeanor warrants,” Changa Higgins of Dallas Action told the local Fox station earlier this year.
“If you look at misdemeanor possession of marijuana, it’s no different.”
Similar measures have been successfully passed by the same group in Austin, San Marcos, Killeen and Denton.
However, Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued these cities, saying the measures cannot become law because they conflict with the Lone Star Sate law.