With a City Council vote scheduled next Monday, Atlanta could join a growing list of cities around the country that have adopted a more pragmatic approach for dealing with marijuana-related offenses on the local level. Kansas City, Houston, Memphis, Nashville, Tampa, Orlando, Milwaukee, Monona, Toledo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and several others have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
After years of stonewalling by former leadership, we commend lawmakers for finally correcting this injustice. Once law, Granite state residents will be one step closer to being able to truly ‘Live Free’ and not just ‘live free, but potentially be incarcerated.
It is important that we keep our lobbying efforts alive and sustain the work we are doing at the Capitol and across the state. There will be major opportunities in front of us that we must be ready to capitalize on.
We learned a lot. We are carbon pressed to diamonds. We must continue to slice away at prohibition!
HB 81, to decriminalize marijuana from jail time to a simple ticket, will be heard by the full Texas House.
Here are the bills from around the country that we’ve tracked this week and as always, check http://norml.org/act for legislation pending in your state.
Late in the evening on Tuesday, May 2nd, the House Public Health Committee held a hearing for HB 2107 which would make the Compassionate Use Program more inclusive for patients with debilitating medical conditions. Many patients stayed late into the evening to provide powerful and emotional testimony. After a powerful hearing with targeted testimony, the authors for the bill jumped from 5 to 75! This is historic and unprecedented in Texas.
Grassroots activists across the Lone Star State mobilize in support of HB 2107. If passed, HB 2107 would make the Compassionate Use Program more inclusive for Texas patients with debilitating medical conditions. Supporters are encouraged to contact their representatives today!
The decision to reauthorize the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment language illustrates both compassion and common sense when it comes to marijuana policy. Now, the majority of states and over 90 percent of the public approves of the use of marijuana as a medicine and Congress should not stand in the way of these reforms.