Federal Court in CA rules Feds May Not Interfere with State's Medical Marijuana Laws

I will admit that this is out of jurisdiction for the State of Texas, but it is on the edge of the battlefront as far as medical marijuana is concerned. For the benefit of those not versed in the hoopla, there are currently 12 states who have laws permitting medical use of marijuana (Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington). These laws are in direct conflict with federal law, which states that there is no currenly accepted medical use for pot, and that it is absolutely a prohibited substance. In states where medical marijuana is more prevalent, and perhaps, obvious, the federal government and DEA have gone to great efforts to squash the state provisions, raiding dispensaries, making federal arrests, etc. The essence, and significance of U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel's decision, had to do with how far the federal agencies can go in a systemic attempt to nullify the state's voter supported laws. A more local account of the story is here. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/21/BAU412FCB9.DTL

2007 Law Allows Officers to Cite Rather than Arrest (have you noticed?)

If you live in Austin, I suppose there is a chance you may have actually been cited for minor pot possession (under 4 oz.) instead of being taken to jail. Or maybe for driving with a suspended license, criminal mischief, or maybe a minor theft.

In 2007, the Texas Legislature passed a law that gives officers the discretion to cite individuals rather than arresting them and taking them to the county jail. The law was based on simple economics: give them a citation telling them when to show up at court, and get the officer back on the street to protect the community against more serious crimes. Unfortunately, the law was not embraced by law enforcement outside of Austin. In fact, the Travis County Sheriff's Department (who supported the law) was one of the only offices to implement the process to any degree.

Here's a recent article from the Daily Texan (UT Student Newspaper) regarding folks encouraging law enforcement to take advantage of the money-saving, and community-protecting law more fully in Austin.

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2008/07/25/TopStories/Advocates.Ask.Police.To.Give.FieldRelease.Citations-3394523.shtml

Welcome to Texas Marijuana Lawyer

First of all, welcome. This site is being launched in an attempt to distribute current, and hopefully accurate, information relevant to marijuana laws in the State of Texas, and to some extent the rest of the United States. The author is a practicing criminal attorney in Austin, Texas, member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers' Association, the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers' Association, and the NORML Legal Committee. It is hoped that this site can be used as a resource and/or discussion board to assist those interested in marijuana law and policy, perhaps those whose jobs touch those areas, or those who have been arrested for marijuana offenses. I appreciate your visit, and welcome your participation.