Dallas Votes to Decriminalize Pot Possession, Afghan Opium Production Rising Again, More... (11/7/24)

Dallas wasn't the only Texas locality to vote to decriminalize this week, Kentucky localities vote to allow medical marijuana businesses, and more.

Once again, in Afghan fields the poppies grow. (UNODC)

Dallas Votes to Decriminalize Pot Possession. By a margin of nearly two-to-one, voters in Dallas approved a measure that would prevent police from arresting or ticketing people caught with four ounces of marijuana or less. Proposition R passed with 65 percent of the vote. 

The measure also bars police from using the smell of weed as a probable cause for searches or seizures and blocks city funds from being used to test marijuana-related substances to see if they meet the legal definition of marijuana. 

Dallas had been the largest American city that had not decriminalized marijuana. Not anymore. 

Central Texas Cities Vote to Decriminalize Pot Possession. The small central Texas cities of Bastrop and Lockhart have joined Dallas in voting to decriminalize pot possession on Election Day. Local measures to do just that passed with 69 percent of the vote in Bastrop and 67 percent in Lockhart.

The propositions ban local law enforcement from citing or arresting people for possessing less than 4 ounces of marijuana, in most instances. They also prohibit police from using the smell of pot as probable cause for a search or seizure and forbid using city funds to test whether a substance qualifies as marijuana, except in limited cases.

These cities now join Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin, Denton, and Harker Heights as cities with decriminalization ordinances. It's all part of a campaign by a group called Ground Game Texas, which seeks to pass such ordinances in cities and towns statewide so that pro-marijuana reform can "trickle up" in a state where there is no statewide initiative process. 

"I think it’s important when we can’t exercise that statewide message, that we leave these little receipts, that this is what we want, this is common-sense policy," said the group's executive director, Catina Voellinger.

Medical Marijuana

Kentucky Cities and Counties Vote to Allow Medical Marijuana Businesses. With the launch of the state's medical marijuana program looming in January, the question of whether to allow medical marijuana businesses to operate locally was on the ballot in 53 cities and 53 counties across the state on Tuesday. Every one of them voted to allow such businesses to operate. 

State law allows communities to "opt-out" of allowing medical marijuana businesses, but these election results show little interest in doing so. Even if they had opted out, registered medical marijuana patients would still be allowed to use their medicine. 

"They’re not voting on whether people can actually possess medical cannabis or use it within their jurisdiction," Sam Flynn, executive director of Kentucky’s Office of Medical Cannabis, said on Monday. "People that have medical cannabis cards will be able to use their medical cannabis anywhere in the state with obviously certain restrictions on where and what types of medical cannabis they can use."

Localities could still vote to opt out next year, but if they do, medical marijuana businesses with 2024 licenses will be grandfathered in and exempt from any ban. 

International

Afghan Opium Production on Rise Again After Taliban Ban. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported Tuesday that opium production is on the rise in Afghanistan two years after the Taliban banned it. Opium poppy production was up 19 percent this year after falling by 95 percent in 2023. The Taliban issued its ban edict in 2022. 

UNODC estimated the amount of land under poppy cultivation at 32,000 acres, with production shifting from its traditional heartland in southwestern Helmand and Kandahar provinces to northeastern Badakshan province. 

"Despite the increase in 2024, opium poppy cultivation remains far below 2022, when an estimated 232,000 hectares [580,000 acres] were cultivated," UNODC said in a statement.

The ban has driven up the farm gate price of opium, which helps drive up production in a country where the peasantry is hard-pressed to make a living. A kilogram of dry opium was going for $730 earlier this year, up from $100 before the ban.