Ken Paxton sues five cities including San Marcos over marijuana policies

By Ezekiel Ramirez 

News Reporter 

On Jan. 31, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released lawsuits to sue San Marcos along with other Texas cities after they decriminalized low-level possessions of marijuana. 

Paxton is suing a total of five cities – San Marcos, Austin, Killen, Elgin and Denton for “adopting amnesty and non-prosecution policies that violate Texas laws concerning marijuana possession and distribution,” according to the statement released by his office. 

Backstory  

In 2022, a political advocacy group called Mano Amiga collected signatures from over 11,000 San Marcos residents to get a proposition on the ballot to decriminalize marijuana. 

“When we were collecting signatures, that whole you know, six months leading up to the election, we were connecting with our neighbors directly, and we heard firsthand how excited they were for this policy,” said Sam Benavides, the communications director of Mano Amiga. 

This proposition was known as Proposition A. 

In Nov. 2022, San Marcos voters approved Proposition A, which put an end to low-level marijuana offense arrests in the city. 

Voters approved the injunction with more than 80% of the vote. Up until this point, when comparing the citations and arrests for marijuana from Jan. to June of 2022, there has been an 85% decrease. 

Mano Amiga’s Right to Justice Coordinator, Elle Cross believes Proposition A benefits the San Marcos residents. 

“We are working on dreaming and building a world where our community members can feel safe and happy and not worry about being stolen by the state and taken from their communities and put in cages for a plan,” said Cross. 

Present situation 

The lawsuits came to light after Paxton alleged that the cities violated state and federal law by passing ordinances and allowing the distribution and possession of marijuana to take place. 

“The five municipalities adopted ordinances or policies instructing police not to enforce Texas drug laws concerning possession and distribution of marijuana—an illicit substance that psychologists have increasingly linked to psychosis and other negative consequences,” said the press release from The Office of the Attorney General of Texas (OAG).  

Benavides believes Paxton has let his position get to his head and thinks this decision from Paxton was “outrageous and undemocratic.” 

“I think that he’s just in this like weird power trip trying to control the state’s laws and control cities,” said Benavides. “Cities, especially homegrown cities, have the autonomy and should have the autonomy to vote on and determine their own policies and how their resources are spent.” 

In the press release made public by OAG, Paxton expressed his disagreements with the decisions made by the cities to pass this policy.   

“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. “This unconstitutional action by municipalities demonstrates why Texas must have a law to ‘follow the law.’  

Benavides believes this decision is exactly what San Marcos wanted despite the negative backlash received from Paxton. 

“This was put on the ballot because we got enough signatures, and it was passed because this was what the voters wanted and so regardless of what an individual thinks about the issue, which I completely respect, this is what our people want,” said Benavides. 

Benavides said Mano Amiga is not finished and will continue to pursue Proposition A.  

“We will just continue to educate our voters on their rights and continue to fight for this policy and ensure that it [Prop. A] remains enacted,” said Benavides.