NORML.org - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws

Texas

1. US TX: DFW Now a 'Command and Control' Center for Mexican
   Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 08 Jun 2013 - The slaying in Southlake Town Square of a Mexican attorney with reputed ties to drug cartels was a brazen and well-coordinated assassination that illustrates the increasingly long and lethal reach of the brutal criminal organizations, security experts say. The flamboyant public hit was unusual because Mexican cartels try to stay off the radar on this side of the border.
2. US TX: Court To Decide If Swallowing Drugs Destroys Or Hides
   Austin American-Statesman, 07 Jun 2013 - While emptying his pockets for a Dallas-area police officer in 2010, shoplifting suspect Richard Rabb pulled out a small plastic bag of pills, popped it into his mouth and swallowed. The pills were lost, or at least not recovered by law enforcement, but Rabb still got six years in prison for tampering with evidence - until a Texas appeals court threw out his conviction, ruling in October that he was improperly tried for destroying evidence when in fact he was just trying to conceal it.
3. US TX: ACLU: Pot Busts Unfair To Blacks
   Austin American-Statesman, 07 Jun 2013 - Report Says Arrests Are Much Higher for Blacks Than Whites, Though Usage Is Comparable. Blacks are arrested for marijuana possession at far greater rates than whites in 12 counties in Texas, even though their rate of drug use is generally about the same, a new report says.
4. US TX: Parents Ramp Up Pressure Against Trustee
   Odessa American, 06 Jun 2013 - Board Members Say Luis Galvan's Beliefs on Pot Use Undermines Credibility A petition is circulating online and among southside voters rallying support to remove Ector County Independent School District board member Luis Galvan, who admitted marijuana use to the Odessa American last month.
5. US TX: PUB LTE: Reasons For More Arrests
   Dallas Morning News, 06 Jun 2013 - Re: "=C2=80=C2=9CACLU: Blacks arrested for pot more than whites" Use abou t the same, but group cites profiling in 2010 figures,=C2=80=C2=9D Wednesday ne ws story. The probable result of a marijuana arrest is a plea bargain that results in a felony record.
6. US TX: Column: The Cannabis Is Out Of The Bag
   Odessa American, 19 May 2013 - This week, the Colorado General Assembly put the finishing touches on legislation aimed at taxing and regulating the commercial distribution of marijuana for recreational use. The process has been haunted by the fear that the federal government will try to quash this momentous experiment in pharmacological tolerance -- a fear magnified by the Obama administration's continuing silence on the subject. Six months after voters in Colorado and Washington made history by voting to legalize marijuana, Attorney General Eric Holder still has not said how the Justice Department plans to respond. But if the feds are smart, they will not just refrain from interfering, they will work together with state officials to minimize smuggling of newly legal marijuana to jurisdictions that continue to treat it as contraband. A federal crackdown can only make the situation worse -- for prohibitionists as well as consumers.
7. US TX: The Policy And Politics Of Drug Sentencing
   Texas Monthly, 06 May 2013 - A Republican Judge From Harris County, With The Support Of The Conservative Tppf And The Left-Leaning Tcjc, Is Working With Democratic Lawmakers To Reduce The Sentences For Defendants Arrested With Trace Amounts Of Illegal Drugs. But It Takes More Than Bipartisanship To Change People's Views On The State's Drug Laws. "My name is Michael McSpadden, judge of the 209th District Court. The court is going to read the charge against you. Please do not respond in any way=C2=85"
8. US TX: Advocates of Legalized Marijuana March Through Downtown
   Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 05 May 2013 - FORT WORTH - In what was perhaps the largest legalize marijuana demonstration in Fort Worth, more than 200 activists marched through downtown Saturday with the noticeable aroma of cannabis lingering behind as they passed. Organizers said several hundred more had turned out last year for a similar march in Dallas, which had provided police security.
9. US TX: PUB LTE: Time To End War On Drugs
   Houston Chronicle, 03 Apr 2013 - Regarding "Mexico must curb cartel violence" (Page B11, Sunday), the essay misses the point entirely. The only way Mexico can curb drug war violence is for the U.S. to cease the war on drugs. The drug war has been a lost cause since its inception, just as was Prohibition, and should be scrapped. Both did and have caused extreme lawlessness here and abroad for no good end. The Mafia et al. spawned by Prohibition turned to the more profitable drug trade after alcohol was legalized. We should note that at least Prohibition was sanctioned by a constitutional amendment, which brings into question the constitutionality of the war on drugs.