polices' discretion to let off people w/mj

texas ain't so bad YA"LL
a step in the right direction,,,,yeah?????
but then again,,,is it just a front,,,,prolly not!


05:35 PM CDT on Friday, August 24, 2007

By ELISE HU
KVUE News

Getting caught with a little marijuana in Texas may not mean automatic arrest -- at least not anymore.

Starting September 1, police officers will have the discretion to let people caught with four ounces or less get off with a citation and a court date -- instead of being booked.

"It will save us both time and money," said Travis County Sheriff's Department spokesman Roger Wade. "It will give the deputy out on the street a chance to actually stay out on the street."

The Sheriff's Department estimates booking people caught with four ounces or less cost more than $1 million in 2006.

Wade says the change will help unclog booking facilities, too. The criminal penalties for pot possession are not changing; rather, the change simply keeps lower risk lawbreakers from being taken into custody.

"Most marijuana users aren't violent criminals," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. "If they are violent, they'll get arrested for the violence."

Lawmakers passed the change in House Bill 2391 without fanfare during the spring session.

The new law also gives officers discretion over whether to arrest petty thieves and graffiti artists. Support for the measure is wide.

"It would actually make the most sense not to cite anyone for marijuana and not put them in jail or fine them at all -- it should be legal," said Kampia. "However, this is a step in the right direction."

thats a good step in the right direction for Texas,,
i mean they had some seriously outrageous drug laws.
i have a few cousins who have gotten sent to jail
over less than a quarter ounce in Texas.

does that apply for the entire stare or just that county? At least were getting somewhere here in tejas.

yay this is good news :stoned:

STAY HIGH TEXAS

LOVE TO ALL

I have a few good stories...

Story One: My whole father's side lives in Texas, and they all live in a small town known for its good football team (Who woulda thunk it). Any who, my cousin is driving his huge dodge truck and gets pulled over. They think hes been doing drugs (hes a star quarterback, no chance) so they arrest him and make him do a drug test at the police station. The test comes back saying he was positive for all these drugs (cocaine, weed, meth.) and is pretty much fucked or something. Well he hires a lawyer and they do there own drug test at a public area, and the test came back clear of everything the next day... and he sues and doesn't have to work for a long time.

Story 2: My and my ex-gf (current at the time) were smoking down this abandoned road with a pipe in my car. Well we pull into a dead end where the entrance was to the rear of my car. Well we start smoking and everything going good, we are being quiet, having a good time, and I then take a hit and when im holding it in, my ex says "cop" in a quiet voice, and me thinking its a cop in a car(always in cars here, never on anything else) I look up in my rear view mirror to see where he is. Well i look and i see nothing(while still holding from the hit) and i turn to her and tilt my head, in a look at questioned why she would randomly say cop... and then i exhale...... and look forward through the windshield and see a cop on a bike coming off a biking/hiking/walking path. Now at this point he can clearly see all this smoking coming out of my mouth and my eyes widening to the size of golf balls. and he rides right past my car from front to rear looking all the way past.. goes about 10 feet past my car like hes gonna just ride through, then does a U-turn, and brakes to my window. I roll down my window and he asks for our ID's..... We give them to him, he calls them in, has a huge problem mispronouncing my name, and i correct him and he says, "Alright, you have a good time" and hands back our ID's and takes off.....

It's a step in the right direction. Now all the states need to go in that direction. Hopefully every state will have laws like California and Colorado in the near future.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
:jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile::j ointsmile::jointsmile:
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

It's a statewide change, UTDToker. But I'm not sure this is all that significant, really. Or, if it is, it's a very small step.

The new legislation allows police officers more discretion in how they respond to small amounts of cannabis, but the criminal penalties remain the same, whether someone gets a ticket or gets arrested and taken to jail. Plenty of the big police and sheriff's departments in this DFW area have made an issue of assuring the public that they'll still make cannabis arrests instead of simply writing tickets as they have the discretion to do.

If and when we can get the actual penalities changed, in other words making sure cannabis is decriminalized, that's when we'll have some real progress in Texas.

Has anyone really received a citation instead of getting arrested? I haven't heard of anyone getting one. It seems most, if not all, of the police/state trooper districts are still arresting cannabis consumers. As a few of the police chiefs I've read about in the newspapers said, "We will continue to prosecute drug users. There is no room in Texas for them." Hah.