<p>Texas just made possession of 4 oz. of weed and under a ticket-only misdemeanor. That change ended the requirement that the “criminal” be taken into custody and booked. So, now a person can answer “have you ever been arrested” truthfully with “NO.” The only catch is that it is ticket-less only if you are apprehended in your county of residence. This may be a selling point for UT-Austin depending on your propensities.</p>
<p>For those who aren’t old enough to remember, at one time mere possession of any pot got you a very substantial term in the Texas penitentiary.</p>
<p>Looks like it isn’t an outright pass, but I doubt there will be a lot of policemen who want the additional paperwork to make the actual arrest.</p>
<p>As of September 1, people caught with up to a quarter-pound of marijuana in Texas will no longer automatically be arrested. Under HB 2391, a bill passed by the legislature and signed into law June 15 by Gov. Rick Perry (R), police will have the option of issuing a summons to appear for misdemeanor pot possession, as well as a number of other small-time offenses.</p>
<p>The measure was pushed by conservative legislators as a cost-cutting measure. “We want to get tough on crime, but we also want to get smart on crime,” said state Rep. Jerry Madden (R), the bill’s author. “Let’s not spend a lot of taxpayers’ money putting people in jail who don’t need to be there,” Madden told Fort Worth Star-Telegraph columnist Bud Kennedy last Saturday. “Let’s give local police more discretion.”</p>
<p>Possession of marijuana remains a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. But now, instead of using up valuable police time and jail space with marijuana and other misdemeanor offenders, police will have the discretion of just ordering them to show up before a magistrate within 48 hours. If they don’t show, the magistrate can issue an arrest warrant.</p>
<p>Other offenses for which police can now issue summonses include petty theft, graffiti, and driving without a license.</p>
<p>“The idea was to free up more county jail space and law officers’ time for violent offenders and sex offenders,” said Marc Levin of the Austin-based Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative organization that lobbied for House Bill 2391. “We looked at how to save counties money. We always came back to the same answer: Take the low-level offenders out of the county jail,” he told Kennedy.</p>
<p>Good now some MS13 punk can be picked up high on weed, driving without a license, and with somebody else wallet and walk with a summons which of course he will show for. What do you call a state that fails to protect its citizens if you don’t call it Iraq? Texas.</p>
<p>If something could only be done about NYS Rockefeller Laws. Even our governors have denounced them. It is common knowledge that R. only instituted them to show the Republican Party that he was tough and meant business in a bid for a presidential nomination. Well, we all know how that worked for him, but NY got stuck with draconian laws.</p>
<p>Well if we are going to de facto legalize it we might as well tax it rather than let the drug cartels and street gangs reap all the profits, arm themselves to the teeth, terrorize whole cities and corrupt governments.</p>
<p>^If we tax it, then we’ll spend it. Best let the free enterprise-rs use the money to best purposes. Besides if we make Mexico and SA wealthier from the drug trade, there will certainly be a trickle down affect to the lower class which will curb the illegal immigration. </p>
<p>These illegal and legal mind altering chems addled his mind. Even an abuser, can become P. </p>
<p>Four ounces seem to be a lot. Especially how much more potent it is than 40 years ago.</p>