The Texas legislature broke the marijuana statute

[SteveRogers]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Is-pot-now-legal-in-Texas-District-attorneys-14068213.php

Hadn't seen a thread about this, and its been causing a headache at my workplace the last few weeks. Basically, the Texas legislature wanted to legalize and regulate hemp. However, they inexplicably chose to do so by redefining "marijuana" for purposes of the criminal statutes as any part of the cannabis plant containing more than 0.3% THC. This means that to prosecute a marijuana case, from misdemeanor possession all the way up to felony amounts, prosecutors now need to prove that a lab test has quantified the amount of THC in a given sample. The problem is that that is not a thing that most, if any, crime labs can currently do.

DA's in different counties are reacting differently. Some are refusing to file any new possession cases and telling local law enforcement to stop making arrests until the crime labs can acquire the necessary equipment (which could be months or could be years). Other counties are still filing charges even though those cases could be tied up in court indefinitely until a procedure for testing emerges. To make matters worse, the bill didn't contain the usual language stating that it only applies to offenses that occur after the effective date, so there's an open question about whether or not the new law applies retroactively to all pending marijuana cases.

This might seem like a win for legalization, but really what it has done is thrown marijuana into legal limbo in Texas. Is marijuana legal in Texas? No. Can you still be arrested for it? Depends on what county you're in. Can the state prosecute you and win at trial? Not at the moment.

You'd almost suspect that the legislature would have to have been doing this on purpose to botch things this badly. Indeed, while the legislators (who don't return to Austin until 2021) are playing dumb, many suspect that this was done intentionally to give the middle finger to Dan Patrick after he killed the decriminalization bill in the Texas Senate.

[Badger]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Is-pot-now-legal-in-Texas-District-attorneys-14068213.php

Hadn't seen a thread about this, and its been causing a headache at my workplace the last few weeks. Basically, the Texas legislature wanted to legalize and regulate hemp. However, they inexplicably chose to do so by redefining "marijuana" for purposes of the criminal statutes as any part of the cannabis plant containing more than 0.3% THC. This means that to prosecute a marijuana case, from misdemeanor possession all the way up to felony amounts, prosecutors now need to prove that a lab test has quantified the amount of THC in a given sample. The problem is that that is not a thing that most, if any, crime labs can currently do.

DA's in different counties are reacting differently. Some are refusing to file any new possession cases and telling local law enforcement to stop making arrests until the crime labs can acquire the necessary equipment (which could be months or could be years). Other counties are still filing charges even though those cases could be tied up in court indefinitely until a procedure for testing emerges. To make matters worse, the bill didn't contain the usual language stating that it only applies to offenses that occur after the effective date, so there's an open question about whether or not the new law applies retroactively to all pending marijuana cases.

This might seem like a win for legalization, but really what it has done is thrown marijuana into legal limbo in Texas. Is marijuana legal in Texas? No. Can you still be arrested for it? Depends on what county you're in. Can the state prosecute you and win at trial? Not at the moment.

You'd almost suspect that the legislature would have to have been doing this on purpose to botch things this badly. Indeed, while the legislators (who don't return to Austin until 2021) are playing dumb, many suspect that this was done intentionally to give the middle finger to Dan Patrick after he killed the decriminalization bill in the Texas Senate.

Comparing your third paragraph describing the current situation, with the status quo previously, I would say that it is in fact a big, albeit unintentional, win for legalization advocates. Now there are many counties with de facto legalization, and effectively a Statewide inability 2 successfully prosecute.

Now, Texas being Texas, I fear this will not last long, and either the legislature will revert to the prior statutory language or speed up the purchase of whatever equipment is necessary to make these chemical measurements. A total waste of money if you ask me, but most of the Texas legislature wouldn't like my opinions anyway.

Question is will this be enough to get a decriminalization bill rolling?

[SteveRogers]

Question is will this be enough to get a decriminalization bill rolling?

One would hope that if we have a period of de facto legalization and people realize that the sky hasn’t fallen, that support for decriminalization will increase.

[Badger]

Question is will this be enough to get a decriminalization bill rolling?

One would hope that if we have a period of de facto legalization and people realize that the sky hasn’t fallen, that support for decriminalization will increase.

Exactly my thoughts. Unfortunately, Texas. Ozark

[The Mikado]

Apparently Texas isn't the only state to do this. Florida is also in the boat of legalizing hemp without good ways of telling hemp and marijuana apart.