Prime GOP Texas legislator reiterates assist for marijuana reform as he previews 2023 priorities

[ad_1]

A prime Republican Texas lawmaker says he’ll work to implement legal justice reform within the 2023 session, and he once more expressed assist for decreasing penalties for marijuana possession.

Home Speaker Dade Phelan (R) spoke about his legislative priorities throughout an interview on the Texas Tribune Competition on Friday, noting that “we’re incarcerated extra in Texas” and noting that he helps decreasing marijuana penalties. We do.

“I don’t know marijuana from oregano. It’s not likely my factor,” Phelan stated as per the San Antonio report. However decreasing the penalty for easy possession, as could be completed underneath the regulation he beforehand co-sponsored, continues to be on the desk, the outlet reported.

The speaker has been commenting on oregano for greater than a yr, so it is unclear whether or not he’ll be capable to differentiate the herb, however he indicated he is a supporter of hashish reform, which the legislature will revisit in the course of the subsequent session. can take from which begins in January.

Talking on the Texas Younger Republican occasion final yr, Phelan stated “I perceive the problem” regardless of his normal lack of familiarity with the marijuana plant.

The speaker beforehand additionally touted the truth that he voted for a restricted medical hashish legalization invoice throughout his freshman yr within the legislature, and stated his assist for reform is partly based mostly on the truth that his ” sister with extreme epilepsy”. And small quantities of CBD oil make an enormous distinction in folks’s lives.”

Phelan additionally stated that he had up to now been the “joint author-no-punishment” of the hashish decriminalization regulation.

“I used to be ready to return residence and clarify it, and it was no large deal,” he stated. “To me, this can be a cheap legal justice reform situation.”

Texas NORML Govt Director Jacques James counseled the speaker’s newest remarks.

“Lowering the penalty for private possession of marijuana has lengthy been an necessary situation for Texas voters,” she instructed Marijuana Second. “It is crucial that the Speaker of the Home reaffirms his assist for addressing harsher penalties round minor marijuana possession. Now greater than ever, it is very important re-prioritize regulation enforcement’s time.”

Whereas Texas has applied extra modest hashish reforms lately, together with the growth of the state’s medical marijuana program, the conservative legislature has but to meaningfully pursue broad reform.

Advocates are additionally pissed off that lawmakers have up to now been unable to go different incremental hashish payments—reminiscent of a decriminalization proposal that has superior in a single chamber of the legislature solely to stall in one other.

The Home permitted a hashish decriminalization invoice in 2019, nevertheless it didn’t advance to the Senate in that session.

,
The Marijuana Second is monitoring greater than 1,500 hashish, psychedelics and drug coverage payments in state legislatures and Congress this yr. Patreon supporters who pledge as little as $25/month have entry to our interactive maps, charts and listening to calendar so they do not miss any developments.


Be taught extra about our marijuana invoice tracker and develop into a Patreon supporter to achieve entry.
,

In keeping with a ballot launched final month, the vast majority of Texas voters assist legalizing marijuana for medical and leisure use.

Texas Republicans could also be on the fence over legalization total, however the state’s GOP get together formalized its opposition to ending prohibition once more with the adoption of a coverage plank as a part of its 2022 platform.

Two minor enhancements that have been supported within the platform, nonetheless, have been the federal rescheduling of laws on marijuana and hashish from Schedule I to II.

Beto O’Rourke, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate with an extended file of supporting drug coverage reform within the Lone Star state and Congress, was fast to criticize the GOP group for adopting restrictive social insurance policies, together with criminalizing hashish.

Even Gov. Greg Abbott (R) embraced easy decriminalization in January, saying, “Prisons and prisons are a spot for harmful criminals who can hurt others, and the small possession of marijuana just isn’t the kind of infringement we see in prisons.” Need to top off with.”

However he mishandled the present coverage, suggesting that the legislature make an already easy marijuana possession a Class C misdemeanor with out the specter of jail time. In actual fact, the regulation nonetheless considers possession of as much as two ounces a Class B misdemeanor with as much as 180 days in jail and a most effective of $2,000.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller argued in favor of additional increasing medical hashish use in an op-ed in July, saying that “hashish prohibition got here from a spot of concern, not medical science or social hurt.” from the evaluation.” His Democratic opponent, Susan Hays, has explicitly known as for adult-use marijuana legalization.

On the native stage, marijuana reform has progressed quickly as Texas activists work to reform jurisdictions throughout the state. In Might, for instance, Austin voters overwhelmingly permitted the decriminalization of marijuana.

Voters in 5 extra Texas cities will see measures to de-criminalize hashish on their November ballots.

Ohio medical marijuana gross sales hit $1 billion milestone, state information exhibits

Marijuana Second is made potential by the assist of readers. When you depend on our hashish advocacy journalism to remain knowledgeable, please take into account the month-to-month Patreon Pledge.

[ad_2]

Supply hyperlink