Crime labs repeatedly told lawmakers and budget officials that they couldn’t distinguish between hemp and marijuana without new testing resources. The issue got almost no attention.
marijuana
Posted inState Government
Analysis: For Texas lawmakers, a ballad of rope and dope
Texas lawmakers made it legal to farm hemp and, incidentally, harder to prosecute people caught with small amounts of marijuana, which is still illegal. Now they’re bickering about whether that’s the fault of the new law or of local prosecutors.
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Marijuana in Texas
How can Texas fix its marijuana problem after legalizing hemp? Forensic experts have a plan.
Prosecutors and crime lab scientists were scrambling to find a solution after a change in the state’s definition of marijuana imperiled criminal cases.
Posted in
Marijuana in Texas
Texas leaders: Hemp law did not decriminalize marijuana
A law legalizing hemp changed the definition of marijuana, causing district attorneys across the state to drop low-level possession cases and stop accepting new ones.
Posted in
Marijuana in Texas
Hemp law has most big-city prosecutors in Texas stepping back from marijuana charges. But not in El Paso.
Many prosecutors say the way Gov. Greg Abbott and lawmakers redefined marijuana requires new lab testing to prove it’s different from recently legalized hemp. The situation has created a patchwork of consequences for people caught with pot.
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Texas Legislature 2019
This year, Texas passed a law legalizing hemp. It also has prosecutors dropping hundreds of marijuana cases.
The new law changed the definition of marijuana, and prosecutors and crime labs say they don’t have the resources to test if a substance is legal hemp or marijuana.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Many marijuana and pro-LGBTQ bills died this legislative session. Expect to see them back in 2021.
While lawmakers in the 86th Texas Legislature advanced measures on some controversial issues, they know it often takes several sessions to pass bills and say they intend to refile them next time.
Posted in
Guides
The Texas Republican Party platform supports some marijuana expansions. So why doesn’t Dan Patrick?
Earlier this month, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said a bill that decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana was “dead on arrival” in the Senate. But his party’s platform supports marijuana decriminalization. So what gives?
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Texas Legislature 2019
Texas expansion of medical cannabis nears finish line after Senate approval
If the House approves changes made by the upper chamber, the bill will head to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Analysis: Tinkering with the 2020 elections in the Texas Legislature
The power of incumbency is more than raising money for campaigns and having a well-known political name. Changing the state’s election laws — or even debating issues that resonate strongly with voters — can set the rules and frame the arguments for the next election cycle.
