End wasteful arrests for pot possession!
- by: Just Liberty
- recipient: Texas State Senators and Representatives
Texas arrests more than 60,000 Texans a year for smoking a weed that's safer than alcohol. Arresting a single pot smoker takes officers off the street for hours, leaving police chiefs begging taxpayers to hire more people.
If law enforcement officers in Texas just wrote tickets for low-level pot possession instead of arresting people, it would save counties millions of dollars in jail and court costs, reduce local incarceration rates, and allow Chiefs to focus public-safety resources on more serious crimes.
Taxpayers pay millions per year to jail people who are quickly (in most counties) fined, freed and probably continue to smoke pot. What exactly is the point? This is government at its worst – both ineffective and inefficient.
The Texas House will soon consider HB 81, which would reduce penalties for low-level marijuana possession from a Class B misdemeanor to a civil penalty carrying a $250 fine.
Opponents of reform are already lining up their votes, starting at the top. Governor Abbott has announced he will veto any marijuana legalization proposal. But that doesn't mean we can't make big changes in how we deploy public safety resources – IF we act now and push hard.
Sign the petition today and tell Texas legislators to support HB 81 and end wasteful arrests for low-level marijuana possession.
If law enforcement officers in Texas just wrote tickets for low-level pot possession instead of arresting people, it would save counties millions of dollars in jail and court costs, reduce local incarceration rates, and allow Chiefs to focus public-safety resources on more serious crimes.
Taxpayers pay millions per year to jail people who are quickly (in most counties) fined, freed and probably continue to smoke pot. What exactly is the point? This is government at its worst – both ineffective and inefficient.
The Texas House will soon consider HB 81, which would reduce penalties for low-level marijuana possession from a Class B misdemeanor to a civil penalty carrying a $250 fine.
Opponents of reform are already lining up their votes, starting at the top. Governor Abbott has announced he will veto any marijuana legalization proposal. But that doesn't mean we can't make big changes in how we deploy public safety resources – IF we act now and push hard.
Sign the petition today and tell Texas legislators to support HB 81 and end wasteful arrests for low-level marijuana possession.
Dear [Decisionmaker]
The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee has approved HB 81 by Chairman Joe Moody to create a civil penalty for user-level marijuana possession. I'm writing to ask you to wholeheartedly support this measure and help it pass on the House floor.
More than 60,000 people were arrested for minor marijuana possession in 2015, taking officers off the streets for several hours with every arrest. Then, county taxpayers must fork over to jail them pretrial, and often pay for their lawyers if they're indigent. These costs to local government run into many millions of dollars, all to punish free people for imbibing a plant which is safer than (legal) alcohol. It's time for this absurd waste of resources to end.
HB 81 would establish a civil penalty for small-time marijuana possession instead of punishing it under criminal law. That makes a lot more sense than wasting a police officer's time on arresting someone, booking them into the jail, etc., which will end up costing the government far more than it will recoup in fines and offender payments.
HB 81 would eliminate most arrests for user-level marijuana possession in Texas, freeing up law enforcement resources to focus on more serious crimes. You have a chance to help make this a reality. Please take it!
Thank you for everything you can do to make sure HB 81 passes and becomes law.
[Your Comment]
Thank you for everything you can do to make sure this happens.
[Your Name]
Sign PetitionSign PetitionThe House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee has approved HB 81 by Chairman Joe Moody to create a civil penalty for user-level marijuana possession. I'm writing to ask you to wholeheartedly support this measure and help it pass on the House floor.
More than 60,000 people were arrested for minor marijuana possession in 2015, taking officers off the streets for several hours with every arrest. Then, county taxpayers must fork over to jail them pretrial, and often pay for their lawyers if they're indigent. These costs to local government run into many millions of dollars, all to punish free people for imbibing a plant which is safer than (legal) alcohol. It's time for this absurd waste of resources to end.
HB 81 would establish a civil penalty for small-time marijuana possession instead of punishing it under criminal law. That makes a lot more sense than wasting a police officer's time on arresting someone, booking them into the jail, etc., which will end up costing the government far more than it will recoup in fines and offender payments.
HB 81 would eliminate most arrests for user-level marijuana possession in Texas, freeing up law enforcement resources to focus on more serious crimes. You have a chance to help make this a reality. Please take it!
Thank you for everything you can do to make sure HB 81 passes and becomes law.
[Your Comment]
Thank you for everything you can do to make sure this happens.
[Your Name]
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