Austin, TX moves to issue citations for Posession

[daihashi]

Finally.. a step in the right direction. Other places in Texas are holding discussions about taking similar measures. It's still a class A/B misdemeanor but again.. at least a tiny baby step in the right direction.

Marijuana ticket law only catching on in Austin area | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/123107dnmetmarijuana.28cfa42.html)

[The Colonel]

Indeed a step in the right direction. Texas drug laws have been notoriously harsh.

[Esoteric416]

Pretty cool of them. Hopefully it will lead to officers realizing that arresting people for simple posession is a huge waste of time and money.
I think its little indications like this that tell us how the tide of public opinion is turning in our favor.
Ill wait to get my hopes up when this type of thing starts happening all over the country.
Good story find though. :D

[daihashi]

While many officers are straight up assholes.. I feel majority of them do not want to take people to jail for simple posession. Not because they're kind hearted but rather it is ALOT of work for them.

Which is fine with me.. as tickets are being handed off instead of individuals being hauled off to jail it will help change the public image people have of it. People will view it less as some thug commiting a crime and more like a serious traffic violation.

Hopefully we adopt something like this where I live.

Furthermore I hope the city of Austin pushes legislation even further to reduce it to a class C misdemeanor. Similar to a traffic ticket or posession of paraphenelia.

I'll be wishfully hoping for that over the years to come :hippy:

[The Figment]

Actually this has been the Written law in Austin for years....The Austin PD just never exercised it that way.
I got stopped while smoking a joint on a break at work at a restuarnt on 6th St in Austin in 1984...All the cop did was take my stash and told me to "Get back to Cookin some Food"
The law has always read "Four Ounces or less in one bag" as a Misdemeanor/Citation in Travis County....They don't wanna piss off the UT Students!!!

[daihashi]

Actually this has been the Written law in Austin for years....The Austin PD just never exercised it that way.
I got stopped while smoking a joint on a break at work at a restuarnt on 6th St in Austin in 1984...All the cop did was take my stash and told me to "Get back to Cookin some Food"
The law has always read "Four Ounces or less in one bag" as a Misdemeanor/Citation in Travis County....They don't wanna piss off the UT Students!!!

I did not know that.. Good piece of info! It's just making news down here to the southeast of Austin :thumbsup:

[flyingimam]

yes, even harris county its been an option for a while but many officers are just pigs and choose not to exercise this option cuz they get paid more and are off the violent streets more for proceedings

Marijuana punishment change? - 8/01/08 - Houston News - abc13.com (http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6302162)


Since last year, Travis County has started writing pot citations and Colorado and Dallas County are about to begin. Harris County is not exercising the option. People caught with four ounces or less of marijuana are still taken to jail. In 2000, there were 6,737 arrests, last year there were 9,790.


Clarence Bradford who is the democratic candidate for Harris County District Attorney supports the citation policy.


Republican DA candidate Pat Lykos is open to the possibility.


Neither candidate for sheriff supports citations over arrest.

"You also have to look at it like this, you write them a citation, what are the chance they're not going to show up for court," asked Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas who is also the Republican candidate. "Then it goes to warrant. Then we have to go out and find them."

"For the message to be communicated that it's ok, it's just a ticket, then you're sending the wrong message," said Adrian Garcia who is the Democrat candidate for sheriff.

Regardless of whether a person is ticketed or arrested though, the penalty for possession of up to four ounces of marijuana remains the same, anywhere from six months to a year in jail plus a fine.

we need a union of smokers, cuz these police people have their money tightly watched and they got organizations to back them up!