Is Medical Marijuana Legal in Texas? Yes, but not enough to get high On June 1, 2015, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill (SB 339) into law that permits the use of medical marijuana (extracted cannabis-based oils only) for individuals diagnosed with intractable epilepsy. This law is known as the Texas Compassionate Use Act. BUT, the chances of anyone in Texas actually getting their hands on these oils are slim to none. Don’t pull out your Bob Marley CDs just yet, this law is not as good as it sounds… Here’s the problem: The language of the medical marijuana bill requires that a doctor must prescribe it to you. However, doctors are not permitted to prescribe a Schedule I
Read more →The war on drugs has a victim. The drug offender. Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s marked the start of skyrocketing rates of incarceration. This was due largely to his unprecedented expansion of the “drug war.” According to Drugpolicy.org, the number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug offenses increased from 50,000 in 1980 to over 400,000 by 1997. The 1980s brought the media’s portrayal of people addicted to the smokeable form of cocaine called “crack” which lead to widespread public concern over drug use. And remember “Just Say No”? Soon after Reagan took office in in 1981, the First Lady began the popular anti-drug campaign “Just Say No.” That slogan was everywhere and is still engrained in the minds
Read more →Texas Criminal Legislative Update: April 19, 2015 The Texas Senate and House Committees continue to hold hearings to debate and flesh out the myriad criminal justice-related bills that have been filed this Session. Here are our notes on some of the important legislative pieces as they are passed out of their respective committees. HB 48 by Representatives McClendon, Leach, Herrero and Moody would create the Timothy Cole Exoneration Review Commission to review convictions after exoneration in order to make recommendations aimed at preventing further wrongful convictions. The same bill was filed (but was not passed into law) by Representative McClendon in the 2011 and 2013 Legislative Sessions. Timothy Cole, the bill’s namesake, was a student at Texas Tech in 1985
Read more →Texas Criminal Legislative Update: March 30, 2015 The 84th Texas Legislative Session is in full-swing in Austin, and you may want to know what new laws our legislators are considering and which old laws might get a facelift. Committee hearings in both the House and Senate are well underway: some bills have been passed out of Committee, some have had hearings and were left pending in Committee, and many more are still awaiting a hearing. Over the next few weeks, we want to keep you updated on some noteworthy pieces of legislation moving through the committees as the Legislature marches towards Sine Die on June 1, 2015. These bills have had a public hearing in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee
Read more →As Colorado took the first step into the realm of legalization, the remaining states looked on in anticipation. Some guessed that the streets would be filled with pot smokers committing random acts of violence, while others feared that smokers would take over the local parks with hula hooping, slacklining and cloud-watching. No noticeable increase in crime or hula-hoop sales have been observed since Washington has joined Colorado as a legalized recreational use state, but much remains to be learned before other states join these two trailblazers. In an article recently published by NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management Professor Mark Kleiman, what marijuana legalization really needs for success is smart legalization. While on its face, legalizing marijuana in a way
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