Texas AG Adds Dallas to List of Cities Sued Over Marijuana Decriminalization

By Stephen Simpson, The Texas Tribune

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed another lawsuit to prevent decriminalizing marijuana-related offenses, this time against the city of Dallas. Paxton has previously sued the cities of San Marcos, Austin, Killeen, Elgin and Denton over similar measures with varying success.

The background: Earlier this month, Dallas voters approved and city officials adopted Proposition R, commonly called the “Dallas Freedom Act,” which prohibits the city’s police department from making arrests or issuing citations for marijuana possession of four ounces or less. It also stops police from considering the odor of marijuana as probable cause for search or seizure, except as part of a violent felony or high priority narcotics investigation.

With 67% of voters approving it on Nov. 5, the measure made Dallas the largest city in Texas to decriminalize lesser marijuana offenses.

Proposition R was pitched by Ground Game Texas, an Austin-based nonprofit working on similar local marijuana decriminalization propositions throughout Texas. Country singer Willie Nelson voiced his support for the city charter amendment, saying it was about fairness and freedom.

However, some city officials opposed the amendment, including Mayor Eric Johnson, who co-wrote an opinion article for The Dallas Morning News telling voters that Proposition R appears “straight-up illegal” under state law.

Why Texas sued: Besides the Dallas lawsuit, Paxton has sued San Marcos, along with Austin, Killeen, Elgin and Denton, earlier this year for adopting ordinances or policies instructing law enforcement not to enforce state laws concerning marijuana possession and distribution.

Paxton, in his lawsuit against Dallas, argued that the Texas Local Government Code forbids any political subdivision from adopting “a policy under which the entity will not fully enforce laws relating to drugs.”

The Republican attorney general also said the Texas Constitution makes it unlawful for municipalities to adopt ordinances that are inconsistent with the laws enacted by the Texas Legislature.

“Cities cannot pick and choose which state laws they follow,” Paxton said in a Thursday statement, adding that cities’ measures to decriminalize marijuana “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.”

What has happened in the courts so far: In July, Hays County District Judge Sherri Tibbe dismissed Paxton’s lawsuit against San Marcos, saying the state was not injured when San Marcos reduced arrests for misdemeanor marijuana possession and that the measure allowed for resources to be used for higher priority public safety needs.

In June, Travis County District Judge Jan Soifer also dismissed Paxton’s lawsuit against Austin ruling there was no legal justification to try the case.

Ground Game Texas — the progressive group that first launched the proposition in Austin and worked with local organizations in other cities — expects Paxton to appeal the decisions to dismiss the lawsuits at some point.

Paxton’s lawsuit against Elgin was resolved in June via consent decree, meaning neither side claims guilt or liability but reached an agreement in court. The decision did not impact Elgin because at no time did the Elgin Police Department implement or enforce the ordinance due to conflicting state laws.

In the North Texas suburb of Denton, where voters approved decriminalization by more than 70%, implementation has stalled after City Manager Sara Hensley argued it couldn’t be enforced since it conflicted with state law.

The case against Killeen filed in Bell County a year ago is still pending.

Broader impact: Marijuana decriminalization has been gaining steam in Texas.

Officials with Ground Game Texas have seen success this past election in Dallas, along with Lockhart and Bastrop.

Officials with the Texas Cannabis Collective, a Dallas nonprofit that advocates for the decriminalization of marijuana, said Paxton is attempting to override the will of the city’s voters.

“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has decided once again to waste taxpayer money to litigate another local marijuana decriminalization measure,” according to a statement from the Texas Cannabis Collective posted on social media.

Although it has seen success in the past, the movement to legalize recreational marijuana failed in Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota this past election cycle.

Despite this, the federal government seems to be softening its stance on marijuana use overall. The U.S. Justice Department has proposed to reclassify it from a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin, PCP, and crack cocaine, to a less dangerous Schedule III drug, similar to steroids, tranquilizers, and sedatives.

President-elect Donald Trump has also previously signaled support for reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, even saying he would be voting “yes” on the failed proposal to allow the sale of marijuana to adults in Florida and hinting at an overall shift in how some in the Republican Party view the drug.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/21/texas-cities-marijuana-ken-paxton-lawsuits/.