Weed News
Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Dallas over decriminalization of marijuana
Marijuana
The City of Dallas has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for its efforts to decriminalize marijuana.
According to a release, Paxton has sued the city for adopting a city charter amendment that would decriminalize marijuana-related offenses and prohibit police from enforcing Texas law.
That amendment was Proposition R, or Dallas Freedom Act, which decriminalizes possession of four ounces of marijuana or less. Voters passed the amendment in the November 5 election, with 67 percent voting in favor.
The lawsuit, filed against the Dallas City Council, alleges that Proposition R is unconstitutional and violates Texas drug laws criminalizing any amount of marijuana.
Paxton says that cities can't "pick and choose which state laws to follow." He's proposing a permanent injunction to stop Proposition R from going into effect.
"The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," says Paxton in a statement. "This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”
Before the recent election, possession of two to four ounces of marijuana could result in a punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Ground Game Texas, the activist nonprofit that has also helped get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in elections across Texas, first got the issue on the ballot in July with the necessary 50,000 signatures.
Dallas is not the only city to be sued; Paxton also filed lawsuits against five other cities in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos in January for their ballots and policies decriminalizing marijuana.
Both Austin and San Marcos had a judge overturn their cases, according to a FOX 4 report.
