Lake Highlands neighbors and other City of Dallas residents will head to the ballot box in November to vote on — among other things — decriminalizing misdemeanor marijuana possession.
21 proposed amendments to the City Charter, voted on by residents every ten years, were approved by City Council in August, officially placing them on the Nov. 5 ballot. 17 were developed by the City Charter Commision, a board appointed by City Council, and the remaining four were the result of citizen petitions.
What is it?
Among the citizen-driven initiatives is Proposition 18, which would bar the Dallas Police Department from arresting or issuing citations to individuals possessing less than four ounces of marijuana, except when involved in a wider felony investigation. The proposition would eliminate the smell of marijuana as probable cause for search. It would also prohibit city funds or personnel from being involved in the testing of cannabis-related substances to determine THC content.
Proposition 18, also known as the Dallas Freedom Act, specifically targets the enforcement of Class A and B misdemeanors for marijuana possession, typically recognized as the threshold of low-level possession. In Texas, possession of less than two ounces is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $2,000. Possession of two or more ounces but less than four is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and/or a fine of up to $4,000.
Ground Game Texas, the group which collected the minimum 20,00 signatures to place Proposition 18 on the ballot, has cited the overrepresentation of minorities in low-level arrests and better uses of police resources as reasons for the amendment.
“Dallas Freedom Act is more than just about marijuana” said Natalie Marquez at a City Council meeting, “it is a step towards broader social justice, smarter use of public resources and protecting civil liberties in Texas.”
DPD
A 2023 study led by Dallas’s Office of Community Police Oversight, which acknowledged potential errors due to incomplete or missing entries in the City’s database, found that 90% of those arrested for possession of less than two ounces in 2018 were non-white, despite whites making up close to 30% of Dallas’s population.
The Dallas Police Department adopted a policy to cease arrests for possession of less than two ounces in 2021, partly due to the scrutiny over the racial impact of low-level arrests. Following the adoption of the policy, arrests for the possession of less than two ounces of marijuana declined steeply, from 149 in 2021, to 49 in 2022, according to the 2023 study. The same study found that despite the reduction, the racial composition of Class B possession arrests largely remained the same in 2022.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia expressed his opposition to Proposition 18 at an Aug. 7 council briefing.
“In my opinion” Garcia said after putting down an example four-ounce bag, “four ounces is not a small amount or for personal use. In fact, per our Narcotics Unit, the typical illegal purchase from a drug dealer in Dallas is $20, which is about two to three dime bags, which is about 2 grams. Four ounces is approximately 113.2 grams.”
Garcia also said that he believes Proposition 18 would increase marijuana demand and primarily benefit drug dealers.
D10
District 10 City Councilmember Kathy Stewart, one of four votes against putting Proposition 18 on the ballot, told The Advocate in August that she is unequivocally against the proposed amendment.
“Listening to what Chief Garcia had to say, the biggest problem for me is that it violates state law. So we’re asking officers, ‘are you going to go by the Dallas city ordinance, the new ordinance? But you’re going to break your oath to uphold state law.’ And why would we put our DPD officers in that situation? So that, plus the concern that Chief Garcia has that this will increase the small drug sales, which is where a lot of crime then comes out of that.”
Is it legal?
Maybe.
Proponents of Proposition 18 say that the amendment, a contradiction of Texas’s marijuana laws, is based on the fact that Dallas is a home rule city. As a home rule city, Dallas is granted a certain level of autonomy to dictate its own governance through its city charter, voted on by citizens.
Home rule cities that have passed similar voter-driven decriminalization ordinances include Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued all five cities over the ordinances earlier this year, with the lawsuit being thrown out by a state district court judge in June.
November
The general election is set for Nov. 5. When neighbors get to the polls, Proposition 18, which will appear on the ballot as Proposition R, will read as:
Shall the Dallas City Charter be amended by adding a new section in Chapter XXIV that reforms marijuana possession enforcement by prohibiting the Dallas Police Department from making arrests or issuing citations for marijuana possession or considering the odor of marijuana as probable cause for search or seizure, except as part of a violent felony or high priority narcotics felony investigation; making enforcement of Class A (currently, two to four ounces) and Class B (currently, up to two ounces) misdemeanor marijuana possession the Dallas Police Department’s lowest enforcement priority; and prohibiting city funds or personnel from being used to test cannabis-related substances to determine whether a substance meets the legal definition of marijuana, except in limited circumstances?
