Texas Ranks Number One in the Country for Marijuana Arrests
Everything is bigger in Texas, even people in jail for marijuana.
More and more states in America are either legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana. Unfortunately, Texas is not one of those states. Although, we do have a very small amount of marijuana dispensaries here in the Lone Star state. That marijuana can only be given to people with a form of epilepsy and they need it just to function day to day.
Some Texas cities are starting to understand that small amounts of marijuana should not mean jail time. Is it really worth taxpayers time to put someone in jail for a little bit of weed? Dallas has a cite and release program for less than 4 oz. of marijuana, which you could still face jail time for.
With California allowing residents to have medical marijuana licenses, the state with the next biggest population is Texas. So it is no shock we lead the country in marijuana arrests. The latest report from the FBI is from 2016. In total around 531,000 pot arrests were reported nationwide. 12 percent of those were in Texas alone.
According to the report, 98% of those arrests were for possession and not serious distribution charges. Depending on where you're in the state, you could face 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine for anything less than 2 oz. The only positive to this story is that pot arrests are actually down in our state. From the last report in 2014, we had 67,600 for marijuana. In this latest report, we have gone down to 64,900.
I think at some point in my lifetime we will have legal marijuana in Texas for everyone. I don't know if it will be a nationwide thing first or if the state of Texas will pass something. I think some people in power are starting to move in the right direction. They're baby steps, but they're moving forward.
BONUS: Police Rescue Woman From Car Sinking in Texas Lake