[[{“value”:”After more than $200,000 in legal fees and a year spent fighting a lawsuit filed by Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, the Denton City Council voted in favor of repealing an unenforced citymandate that decriminalized possessionof small amounts of marijuana in a tight 4-3 vote.
Back in 2022, Denton voters approved Proposition B by a 72% vote and decriminalized marijuana possession of less than four ounces, but police never complied with the mandate at the direction of city officials.
“In short, the City does not have the authority to implement some provisions of Proposition B without changes to current drug laws by Congress and the Texas Legislature,” City Manager Sara Hensley wrote in a 2023 statement.
By January of 2024, Paxton filed a suit against Denton and four other cities for allowing propositions that would decriminalize marijuana to appear on voter ballots. Paxton has since filed a similar suit against the city of Dallas for a similar proposition, but the city has yet to strike it from their charter.
“I will not stand idly by as cities run by pro-crime extremists deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities,” said Paxton in a release announcing the suits. “This unconstitutional action by municipalities demonstrates why Texas must have a law to ‘follow the law.’ It’s quite simple: the legislature passes every law after a full debate on the issues, and we don’t allow cities the ability to create anarchy by picking and choosing the laws they enforce.”
Now, citing the legal fees associated with defending Proposition B, the city council successfully voted to repeal the mandate despite public opposition and an hour of public testimony urging the council to side with voters.
“We all went into the meeting last night knowing how this was going to go,” Nick Stephens, co-chair of Decriminalize Denton, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to decriminalizing marijuana in the city, said to the Observer. “We knew that the vote had already been set based on the conversations that we had prior to the meeting.”
The city placed the item on their weekly agenda on Friday, May 16, offering residents a few days to prepare their testimonies for the public hearing.
“Without prior warning or community engagement, the newly published agenda for [the] Denton City Council meeting lists a surprise scheduled vote to repeal the modest misdemeanor-level cannabis decriminalization initiative ordinance that was adopted by [72]% of City of Denton voters in November 2022,” wrote Decriminalize Denton in a press release. “That is unacceptable.”
Before the city council convened, a group of protestors gathered in the courtyard outside, led by Deb Arminter, the other chair of Decriminalize Denton. Following a rendition of a parodied version of Afroman’s “Because I Got High,” Arminter led about a dozen upset Dentonites into City Hall. There, the council listened to locals disappointed by their unexpected choice to vote on the mandate.
“I just want to say in solidarity with everyone else who has spoken, we had barely a weekend to localize on this,” Arminter said to the council. “There has been no public engagement, and that is a scandal on the matter. That was a popular vote.”
A number of concerned individuals expressed a common argument made in favor of decriminalizing low-level possession of marijuana: Prosecuting individuals for the non-addictive substance makes criminals out of non-violent individuals and increases police and prison costs for cities.
“[There’s a] myth that defending [Proposition B] is a waste of money,” said Arminter. “The truth is, it’s a waste of money to allow a city manager or police chief to not implement. If we were implementing that ordinance, you would be saving so much money, hundreds of thousands each year on citations, arrest, THC testing, jail time, and highly paid police work, both on the streets and also behind the desk, with desk work, all to document a victim’s non-violent crime.”
Councilman Brandon Chase McGee echoed this sentiment, urging his fellow councilmembers to oppose repealing Proposition B.
“How much is somebody in the city’s life worth?” Chase McGee rhetorically asked. “We’re approaching $200,000. How much is someone in the city’s life worth? I don’t want people in this city to continue to have arrests on their record for low levels of marijuana. I don’t want people to start, particularly younger [people], to start out their life behind the eight ball with a charge. That’s very important to me.”
But ultimately, the city council still voted to repeal.
“They are anticipating something like $500,000 in future attorneys’ fees, but that’s not the only reason… It’s out of our hands. It is a state issue and not a local issue,” Council member Jill Jester explained before voting to repeal. “I am not shirking my responsibility, as some up here might say, by voting the way I’m voting tonight. I’m taking my responsibility very seriously, knowing that many of you will be angry at me. It’s not something that I do lightly. It’s not even something I wanted to do.”
While it would seem the city council’s choice is guided by the mounting legal pressure enacted by Paxton, Stevens says the blame still lies within the locality.
“It’s been framed as this is on Ken Paxton, and I understand that because, I mean, I can’t stand the guy,” said Stephens. “He’s a terrible person, but I don’t know that I really put the blame on him as much as I put the blame on feckless leadership in Denton. The reason I say that is because all you have to do is look around at every other city, you just have to drive 30 miles south to Dallas. They’re in a lawsuit too, but at least their counselors have the spine to enforce it.”
“}]] After $200,000 spent fighting a lawsuit from Paxton, the Denton leaders voted to repeal a decriminalization mandate. Read More
