Texas may not have much appetite for reforming its state cannabis laws, but activists stepping up their efforts at the local level. Denton is now the latest Texas city where advocates are trying to get decriminalization passed through a local ballot initiative.
The group Decriminalize Denton, which twice failed to to convince that city’s elected lawmakers to drop arrests and citations for low-level pot busts, is now working to get the idea in front of voters, the Dallas Observer reports.
Decriminalize Denton will begin collecting signatures Saturday, hoping to land the 1,745 needed to put decriminalization of misdemeanor levels of weed on the ballot for November, according to the Observer. Group members said they’re looking to blow past that amount and collect a total of 3,000 signatures.
The Denton drive comes two weeks after San Marcos advocates launched an effort to collect the 4,400 signatures needed to allow voters there decide whether to decriminalize. If they succeed, the measure would also appear on the November ballot.
Both initiatives appear to be inspired — at least in part — by the success of organizing group Ground Game Texas in landing a measure on Austin’s May 7 ballot that would bar the city from engaging in low-level marijuana enforcement. The proposal would also halt the use of “no-knock” warrants.
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