A coalition of advocacy teams introduced on Tuesday that they are going to be launching a signature drive to place an initiative to decriminalize marijuana, stop the enforcement of abortion-related “crimes” and ban no-knock warrants on the San Antonio poll subsequent spring.
The San Antonio Justice Constitution Initiative is being spearheaded by the group Act 4 SA, with assist from Floor Sport Texas, SA Stands and the Immigrant Authorized Useful resource Middle (ILRC).
It’s one of many newest iterations of the native hashish reform motion within the Lone Star State, the place voters will likely be deciding on decriminalization on the poll subsequent month in Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos. Floor Sport additionally led these extra narrowly tailor-made initiatives.
The textual content of the measure says that “it’s the coverage of the Metropolis of San Antonio to make use of its obtainable assets and authority to perform three targets of paramount significance: first, to cut back the Metropolis’s contribution to mass incarceration; second, to mitigate racially discriminatory legislation enforcement practices; and third, to avoid wasting scarce public assets for larger public wants.”
BIG NEWS! New marketing campaign in San Antonio w/@Act4SATX for a Justice Constitution!
We’re gathering 35K signatures to be the first Texas metropolis to
1) decriminalize weed
2) decriminalize abortion!
3) undertake cite & launch
4) ban chokeholds &
5) ban no-knock warrants!https://t.co/OYtnhHdyJA— GroundGameTX (@GroundGameTX) October 18, 2022
For the hashish part of the initiative, it stipulates that “San Antonio cops shall not problem citations or make arrests for Class A or Class B misdemeanor possession of marijuana offenses,” with restricted exceptions.
It additionally says that police can’t “contemplate the odor of marijuana or hemp to represent possible trigger for any search or seizure.”
“No Metropolis funds or personnel shall be used to request, conduct, or get hold of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) testing of any cannabis-related substance to find out whether or not the substance meets the authorized definition of marijuana underneath state legislation,” it continues.
It could additionally decriminalize possession of artificial cannabinoids by requiring police to problem a ticket or quotation, reasonably than arrest, for possessing as much as 4 ounces of the substance.
Moreover, the measure would stop legislation enforcement from criminalizing abortion, executing no-knock warrants and utilizing chokeholds towards suspects.
Below the proposal, town would additional be required to nominate a “Justice Director” to meet three coverage priorities: scale back mass incarceration, mitigate racial disparities in legislation enforcement practices and “save scarce public assets for larger public wants.”
Activists might want to acquire at the very least 20,000 legitimate signatures from registered voters by early January. The teams stated they plan to submit a minimal of 35,000 signatures to make sure placement for the Might 2023 poll.
“The San Antonio Justice Constitution is a groundbreaking suite of extraordinarily in style reforms that will enhance public security, scale back pointless arrests, promote transparency and accountability in legislation enforcement, and finish the criminalization of basic rights like abortion,” Julie Oliver, govt director of Floor Sport Texas, stated in a press launch.
“We look ahead to San Antonio turning into a mannequin for bettering public security and defending fundamental rights by way of direct democracy,” Oliver stated.
“Throughout the neighborhood now we have heard the identical factor from neighborhood members: They wish to scale back overcrowding within the jails, cease harmful policing practices that hurt neighborhood and officers alike, prioritize metropolis assets for larger public security wants, and implement applications that may be rehabilitative and deal with crime prevention—identical to cite and launch does by reducing the re-offender charge,” ACT 4 SA Govt Director Ananda Tomas said.
San Antonio Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez welcomed the information of the citizen initiative, urging residents to signal the petition.
Sure! Sure! YES!
If you’re a registered voter in San Antonio, let’s get you signed on to the petition 👌🏽https://t.co/4Kd6LkXty2
— Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (@theloserteacher) October 18, 2022
ACT 4 SA says that it’s assured that the multifaceted initiative will cross, citing inside polling that exhibits assist for every of the measure’s planks. The initiative’s general assist stands at 67 p.c, according to San Antonio Studies.
In the meantime, Texas voters in 5 cities could have the possibility to enact native hashish decriminalization subsequent month following profitable signature drives headed by Floor Sport Texas, which additionally put the reform on Austin’s Might poll this yr. Voters strongly accredited that measure.
There isn’t a statewide, citizen-led initiative course of that will allow advocates to place a difficulty like marijuana decriminalization or legalization on the Texas poll. However on the native stage, there are restricted circumstances the place activists can leverage house rule legal guidelines that permit for coverage modifications.
On the identical day that the Austin initiative was licensed, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) stated that he doesn’t consider folks ought to be incarcerated over low-level marijuana possession.
A ballot launched final yr discovered {that a} sturdy majority of Texans—together with most Republicans—assist even broader reform to legalize marijuana for grownup use. A separate survey launched in June discovered that hashish legalization is extra in style in Texas than the state’s high elected officers and President Joe Biden.
Home Speaker Dade Phelan (R) stated final month that he’ll work to enact legal justice reform within the 2023 session, and he once more expressed assist for reducing penalties for marijuana possession.
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Drug coverage reform did advance within the state legislature throughout final yr’s session, however not essentially on the tempo that advocates had hoped to see.
A invoice to increase the state’s medical hashish program and one other to require a examine into the therapeutic potential of sure psychedelics for navy veterans had been enacted.
Advocates stay upset, nevertheless, that lawmakers had been unable to cross extra expansive hashish payments—together with a decriminalization proposal that cleared the Home however noticed no motion within the Senate.
The Home accredited a hashish decriminalization invoice in 2019, but it surely didn’t advance within the Senate that session.
The Texas Republican Occasion adopted a platform plank endorsing decriminalization of marijuana possession in 2018.
A Texas ballot that was launched over the summer time discovered that 60 p.c of voters within the state assist making hashish authorized “for any use.”
Individually, the state Supreme Court docket heard testimony in March in a case in regards to the state’s ban on manufacturing smokable hemp merchandise—the newest growth in a drawn-out authorized battle on the coverage first proposed and challenged in 2020.
Photograph courtesy of Mike Latimer.