https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2021-04-20/greg-casar-called-for-austin-to-reach-zero-possession-of-marijuana-arrests-recent-data-shows-just-that/

""In the last quarter of 2020, October 1 through December 31, Austin Police Department made zero arrests for possession of marijuana - the first such instance since the city began releasing quarterly Cite-Eligible Custody Arrests reports in 2018.""

Keeper of The Spirits said:

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Yep. The way it should be but should be caught on DUI

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Good point. We had a whole quarter of DUIs where nobody had pot on them??

Aust Ag said:

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Keeper of The Spirits said:

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Yep. The way it should be but should be caught on DUI

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Good point. We had a whole quarter of DUIs where nobody had pot on them??

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APD is just ignoring the weed as a possession charge. You can still arrest for DUI

Now lets regulate it.

The hemp legalization law has made prosecution for possession of marijuana much more difficult and expensive. If they want to prosecute for possession even at the lowest level (< 2 oz), they have to send the seized weed to a lab to have the THC level tested. This costs $$$. The powers that be have probably decided that it's not worth it for a class B misdemeanor.

This gets communicated to the cops on the street. They catch someone with weed, they just take it away and destroy it (dump it out on the ground, grind it with their foot like you used to put out cigarettes.) No arrest.

I know I've talked to cops from San Antonio who've told me that's what's happened there.

Also, drug test times from the DPS lab are staggering. Sometimes it takes a year to 1.5 years to get a result back from what I have been told. That's stupid at all levels.

If they get 2 drug packets from one arrest, they will just test the one that is the larger quantity and if it is verified, they won't even test the other one. That means if you have 5 lbs of Meth, and 4 pounds of coke, you don't get charged with 2 crimes, as they can't prove the Coke with no DPS results. You should have 2 felonies, but you get 1. This kinda crap is government bureaucracy at it's finest.

And for people that think all the drugs are no harm to society and should be legalized, you know nothing at all about crime rates, or the amount of crimes that are influenced/caused to/by support a drug habit. The amount is astonishing.

I have also seen that there seem to be very few number of small amount of MJ cases being prosecuted. I also think this has to do with the hemp legalization.

Drugs cause crime because the drugs themselves are illegal. Legalize the drugs and the crime rate goes down. People don't steal more marijuana money any more than the do for alcohol money

Tell us about crime oh wise one and how marijuana plays a part in it oh wise sage, please expand upon how it is different than alcohol, if your position is outlaw alcohol as well I'll concede that's the only point that will make sense

Meth, molly, and coke sure, but all you need is a prescription for the synthetic version of those

Until the State, and the Feds make possession of weed illegal, I can't support simply ignoring a law. Especially if there is no enforcement of Driving While High. Why is it an arrestable offense to be driving under the influence of a legal drug, but not arrestable for driving under the influence of an illegal drug?

Frankly, I don't care what your view is regarding the legalization of smoking week... I just want a consistent enforcement for DUxxxxx.

Equally likely it was money for weed or alcohol. As in highly unlikely. Weed is cheaper than alcohol even illegally. Also, you don't fiend for weed or alcohol in ways that significantly change you behavior. You may use alcohol and become angry or violent. You may be hungover and have the shakes the next day. With weed you might be a little more lazy but not violent or hungover, with neither should you drive. I imagine you know this already however because marijuana legalization has very high support even in Texas and Imagine you've had this discussion before

Most likely looking for prescription pills or money for meth. Meth/opiods and weed/alcohol are much different categories of drugs

Agree with your DUI point but it can be incorporated into current law. DUI/DWI enforcement is the last hill for anti marijuana advocates to die on, but it's not one that should hold up progress. I'd much rather have equal application of the law to the rich and poor than simply equal application of DUI. However both are dreams

wadd96 said:

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Until the State, and the Feds make possession of weed illegal, I can't support simply ignoring a law. Especially if there is no enforcement of Driving While High. Why is it an arrestable offense to be driving under the influence of a legal drug, but not arrestable for driving under the influence of an illegal drug?

Frankly, I don't care what your view is regarding the legalization of smoking week... I just want a consistent enforcement for DUxxxxx.

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Where did you get the idea that driving under the influence of an illegal drug is NOT arrestable? It certainly is.

"Intoxicated" means:
(A) not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a combination of two or more of those substances, or any other substance into the body; or
(B) having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.

Correct even if it's a prescription drug you have a script for you can still be arrested for DUI and nothing illegal about the drug

wadd96 said:

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Really? So the guy that broke into my neighbor's car yesterday was going to buy a bottle of Boone's Farm Wine instead of meth or weed?

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Is this serious? You realize alcohol is far closer to meth on the addiction scale than marijuana is, right? No one is doing violent things as a result of or to acquire more marijuana (as a user and not a cartel resulting from black markets).