Marijuana Vs Texas

So I wrote a blog on July 24, 2014 called Legalize Marijuana Already. In that blog, I emphasized on how Texas Legislative should legalize marijuana use or at least start with medical marijuana usage; and also decriminalizing marijuana possession penalties. Legalization of marijuana is a very controversial topic because it has many active supporters and anti-supporters. Heather Fazio, Texas Political Director for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), fully supports the complete legalization of marijuana. In an article called Texas Republicans Are in a War Over Weed, she states that most states have legalized marijuana through ballot initiatives and that marijuana won’t be legal anytime soon in Texas because it goes through the state legislature which are dominated by strong-willed conservatives who oppose marijuana usage. Heather Fazio and many other supporters’ believe that marijuana possession should not be considered a crime. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, there are more arrest for marijuana possession each year than for all violent crimes combined, and 87% of these are for possession and not for sale or manufacture. The law enforcement and state government should be tough on the real crimes where victims are in danger and not on petty nonviolent pot offenders.

Some Texas office-holders and politicians are resistant to changes of marijuana legalization because legalizing marijuana can potentially increase black market sales of the drug by the cartels and negatively impact public safety. Whether marijuana is legal or illegal, the drug cartels will still have their businesses up and running. Anti-supporters of decriminalization and legalization also argue that there are no means to test impaired drivers to determine how mentally and physically affected they are and can be harmful to the public safety. If people believe that marijuana is this dangerous then they should also make tobacco and alcohol illegal because these drugs are also harmful to the “public safety.”  I've heard numerous stories of people overdosing on alcohol, but haven't heard any on marijuana. The first step in convincing the Texas legislature is to allow marijuana product testing and research to be conducted and show that marijuana should not be characterized as a Schedule I drug such as heroin and LSD, and be reclassified to a lower schedule drug.