Texas State Capitol Educational Exhibit: Reducing Penalties for Possession of Marijuana
The Texas Legislature is in session and dozens of marijuana-related bills have been introduced, including including proposals to reduce the penalties for marijuana possession. We are at the Capitol with our educational exhibit, including displays featuring information about the arrest rates, clearance rates, taxpayer cost, valuable point of views from law enforcement, the disparity in enforcement and more. We were honored to collaborate with our coalition, Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, on the creation and production of this exhibit.
Review the graphics and their sources below. Take a video tour of the exhibit.
Texas Department of Public Safety
Office of District Attorney of Harris County
“A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform” ACLU, 2020
“Dallas Cops Are Still Citing-and-Releasing Mostly Black and Brown People for Pot” Dallas Observer, April 2018
Austin City Council’s Judicial Committee Meeting as reported by APD Assistant Chief Gay, September 13, 2019
“Racial and gender inequities in the implementation of a cannabis criminal justice diversion program in a large and diverse metropolitan county of the USA” November, 2020
Yahoo News/Marist (2017)
According to the U.S. Department of Education: “Is it true that drug convictions might affect my ability to get federal student aid? Yes; your eligibility might be suspended if the offense occurred while you were receiving federal student aid (grants, loans, or work-study).”
“PHA/owner has discretion to admit applicants with a history of drug-related offenses … ”
https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/crimconvict
Whether someone with a misdemeanor record may enlist in the U.S. Armed Services depends on several factors, including the nature, number, seriousness, and circumstances of the crime and when they were committed. Some crimes, unless expunged, are a bar to enlistment.
Individuals convicted of a drug or controlled substance offense will have their driver’s license suspended for 180 days.
State law requires DPS to suspend a license, if the license holder is charged with a Class A, or Class B misdemeanor offense.
USC sec. 1227(a)(2)(B)
If a Texas resident and U.S. Citizen wishes to work overseas for which a work visa is required they often must undergo a criminal background check and must provide a “certificate of good conduct” or “lack of a criminal record”.
https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/crimconvict.htm
National Institute on Drug Abuse, December 17, 2018 press release
CNNIORC International survey, January 6, 2014.
“Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base,” p. 6, Institute of Medicine (1999)
DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articfes/PMC1071664I
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
Understanding and Preventing Violence, Volume 3
DEA Drug Fact Sheet (2020)
