Come November, Dallas voters will get to decide whether to loosen the city’s policy around marijuana. But elected officials don’t agree on what could happen if it passes.
A proposed ballot initiative could decriminalize up to four ounces of marijuana in Dallas. But it was clear during Wednesday’s council meeting, the city’s leaders have mixed feelings about the issue.
But ultimately, the Dallas city council has no say in the matter now. By law, the measure must be put on the November ballot since the petition was certified by the city secretary.
The petition was started by a group called Ground Game Texas. The organization works to “advance social justice while strengthening” democracy, according to its website. Ground Game Texas calls the charter amendment proposal the “Dallas Freedom Act.”
Part of the amendment would direct the Dallas Police Department to “stop issuing citations or making arrests for Class A or Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession.” Another section prohibits city funds or personnel from being used to conduct testing on “any cannabis-related substance” to figure out if it meets the legal definition of marijuana under state and federal laws.
The amendment language also says that police officers can’t consider the smell of marijuana as probable cause for search and seizure — “except in the limited circumstances of a police investigation.” And the proposal says officers can be punished if they are found to be violating the policy.
At least four council members have previously voiced support for the issue. During Wednesday’s meeting, Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia had a different view.
Holding two freezer-sized plastic bags of weed — one with two ounces divided up into smaller bags, and the other with four ounces prepared the same way — Garcia said it’s worth the officer’s time to investigate the larger quantity.
“In my opinion four ounces is not a small amount, or for personal use,” Garcia said, weed bags in hand. “Per my narcotics unit, the typical illegal purchase for personal use, from a drug dealer in the city of Dallas…is about two to three dime bags.”
Garcia said four ounces equates to around 113 “dime bags” — or around two to three grams of marijuana — which could lead to around 38 different “drug transactions.”
Others around on the council didn’t agree and said Garcia had a different opinion three years ago when the city decided to loosen its policy on when to arrest people for having smaller quantities of marijuana — around two ounces.
Garcia said that was a “business decision” made to allow officers to focus on more violent crimes.
“I just think it’s important for us, if were going to give the community…as much to make an informed decision in November, it shouldn’t just be based on your opinion, that seems to have changed in three years,” District 7 Council Member Adam Bazaldua said during the meeting.
Garcia told the council that larger amounts of marijuana should “definitely be looked at” and it could be a catalyst for more crime.
“Where can you purchase marijuana, much less four ounces, legally in the state of Texas?” Garcia said. “You can’t. This would increase demand, and who prospers?”
Garcia said that drug dealers take the lions’ share — and in return Dallas’ underserved communities get harmed.
Year to date, Dallas’ narcotics division served over 141 search warrants. Over 62% involved “some amount of marijuana,” according to Garcia.
In 2023 there were 28 murders that involved some kind of drug. Two involved PCP, three involved meth, five had to do with cocaine and 17 involved marijuana, according to Garcia.
“So far this year, nearly 71% of our drug-related murders have involved some amount of marijuana,” Garcia said. “Combined, as of June, of our drug-related murders that we know of over 66% have had some marijuana nexus.”
Garcia listed several cases of murders that involved some amount of marijuana. Most of them centered around drug deals gone wrong — and dealers being hurt while being robbed for their goods.
But not everyone agreed with the narrative Garcia presented.
“In all the examples you gave that attribute other crimes to the possession of marijuana, you’re conflating causation to correlation,” Bazaldua told Garcia during the meeting. “And I don’t think that’s a very accurate representation of the presence of marijuana being there in these crime examples that you’ve given.”
Bazaldua was one of the council members to champion loosening the enforcement around possession of lower amounts of weed. He also endorsed Ground Game’s initiative to get the new proposal on the November ballot.
“I want to also remind you that three years ago is when you put in place the two-ounce general orders change, and since then we’ve had a consistent three years of a decrease in violent crime,” Bazaldua said. “The pictures that are painted with these grim stories…to me is misleading.”
Bazladua also said when the council was deciding on whether to change the department’s general orders, Garcia had painted a different picture of the drug.
“We actually heard stories and opinions of yours, from your experience, that you in your long 25 years a as a police officer, have been around more homicide scenes that involved alcohol or other substances than marijuana in the first place,” Bazaldua said.
Garcia said his mind had changed over the years — not on the drug itself, but the quantity someone can get away with carrying around.
District 14 Council Member Gay Donnell Willis said that while the move made three years ago was a “progressive” move — she said this may be a move too far.
“Moving to four ounces just feels like you’re crossing into this selling zone, and creating a class of drug dealing,” Willis said. “It just seems like this is tied into weapons, other drugs, other activity…I’m really concerned about that and I don’t love that is getting ram rodded onto the ballot.”
The City Attorney’s Office staff made it clear that the initiative must be put on the ballot — and any plan to remove it by the council would likely be met with a lawsuit from the petitioners.
H/T: www.keranews.org
