DALLAS — Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia denounced a push to "decriminalize" possession of less than 4 ounces of marijuana, which supporters announced Tuesday had received enough signatures to be included on the November ballot.
"I am absolutely, unequivocally opposed to it," Garcia told WFAA.
A change to Dallas Police cannabis enforcement in 2021 reduced the circumstances under which police officers would charge people for possession of less than 2 ounces of the drug -- but Garcia said data shows higher quantities lead to illegal sales and violent crime associated with them.
Advocates who collected tens of thousands of signatures in support of the change to the city charter believe the measure will "absolutely" pass, despite the opposition from the popular chief.
"I don’t have any concerns of it not passing just because this is where we are in our reality as Texans," said Catina Voellinger, the executive director of Ground Game Texas. "There are other things that we could be putting our public funds to."
She called the opposition from Garcia to the measure "sad."
"I just think that it’s a little bit wrong to think that you still want to arrest people on this when there are still other serious crimes your department can be focusing on," Voellinger said.
She said the Dallas City Secretary's office notified Ground Game Texas Friday that it had collected enough petitions to include the charter amendment on the November ballot. WFAA reviewed a copy of the letter the group said it had received from the City Secretary's Office.
Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot said he does not have an opinion pursuing the measure, but said "In the past, our records reflected that 97 percent of the misdemeanor marijuana cases were less than two ounces."
Creuzot pointed out that "decriminalization" is somewhat of a misnomer -- as Texas law would remain the same if the measure passes.
"To be more accurate," he said," directing the police to not arrest on any offense is not decriminalization. It's only a decision on the priority of resources."
Other cities in Texas have previously passed similar measures -- including Denton and Austin -- and have immediately faced legal challenges from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). Voellinger and Dallas city leaders believe a similar challenge will come if Dallas passes the charter change.
"If it passed we would immediately -- I assume -- be sued by Ken Paxton the attorney general to not be able to enact it because it isn't legal statewide," Councilmember Chad West -- who represents Oak Cliff -- said on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics June 30.
"What it really would do is send a message to the state that we do want to see marijuana law reform in the state," West said of the measure.
Paxton's office did not reply to a request for comment Tuesday.
West was among a group of city council members who proposed submitting a similarly worded charter amendment as part of the ongoing charter review process -- in the event Ground Game Texas did not obtain enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot through the citizen petition process.
At a June meeting, the council members indicated they would not move forward with their charter amendment if Ground Game Texas received the signatures necessary.
As a formality, the City Council must vote to include the measure as part of the charter package -- likely at its August 14 meeting.