NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is unmoved by a new poll revealing that a majority of Texans support legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use.
Abbott said Tuesday that his position has not changed beyond what he’s proposed in the past — reducing the criminal penalty for marijuana possession to a Class C misdemeanor, but not legalizing the drug.
But according to a Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler poll released Sunday, an overwhelming percentage of registered Texas voters — 91% of Democrats, 85% of independents and 74% of Republicans, combining for 83% total — back the idea of legalizing marijuana for medical use in the state, something the Legislature has continuously expanded, including as recently as last year.
When it comes to recreational use, which is legal in 18 other states, including neighboring New Mexico, Texans are a bit more hesitant.
The News-UT Tyler poll, which surveyed 1,232 registered voters between May 2-10 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, found that 60% of respondents support legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
Former El Paso congressman Beto O’Rourke, Abbott’s rival in this November’s race for governor, supports the complete legalization of marijuana.
Abbott won’t go that far, but he said Tuesday he understands changes in marijuana laws are needed.
“We don’t need to be stockpiling in our jails and prisons will people who are arrested for minor possession allegations,” Abbott said after a roundtable discussion with business leaders in North Richland Hills. “We would be keeping those jails for dangerous criminals who deserve to be behind bars.”
The governor might be on solid ground with his GOP base. According to the poll, just 42% of Republicans support legalizing marijuana for recreational use, compared with a majority of Democrats and independents, 76% and 64%, respectively.
Victor Cogburn, a Republican from Stephenville who responded to The News-UT-Tyler poll, is a retired lieutenant of correctional officers who worked for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for 26 years and says opposes legalization across the board.
“It is a drug,” he said. “That’s dope. That’s dope, that is the way I look at it. No, it should not be legalized.”
O’Rourke, who trailed Abbott in the governor’s race by 7 percentage points in the poll, says legalizing marijuana is the right thing to do from a criminal justice perspective. The Democrat added that it would create a billion-dollar taxable industry for Texas.
While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, states have been engaged in efforts to legalize or decriminalize it for the last decade. According to a CBS News poll, two-thirds of Americans want recreational marijuana use to be legal under federal law and in their own state.
In 2018, Oklahoma voters approved legalizing marijuana for medicinal use, and this year, they’ll vote on complete legalization.
Howard Rogers, a Republican from Deer Park, southeast of Houston, who responded to The News/UT-Tyler poll, said he doesn’t smoke marijuana, but he supports legalizing it for both medical and recreational use.
“It’s your own business, what you do,” he said. “It’s just like drinking (alcohol), I drink. … It’s everybody’s business what they do at their own home.”
What are the marijuana laws in Texas?
In Texas, eligible residents have been able to access low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cannabis for medical purposes through the state’s compassionate use program was approved in 2015. By law, this program is limited to Texans with epilepsy, seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, autism, terminal cancer and incurable neurodegenerative diseases.
The Legislature expanded the program to include all forms of PTSD and cancer last year.
Despite the recent expansion of legal medical use, though, it’s still illegal to possess marijuana in the Lone Star State.
Possession of up to 2 ounces is a Class B misdemeanor and punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. Possession of more than 2 ounces could result in up to a year in jail, and more than 4 ounces is a felony.
If action in the state’s capital is any indication, though, that could eventually change. Earlier this month, Austin residents voted overwhelmingly for a proposition forbidding police officers from ticketing and arresting people on low-level marijuana offenses, effectively decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of weed.
In Dallas, District Attorney John Creuzot announced in 2019 that his office would decline to prosecute most misdemeanor cases of first-time marijuana possession. Last year, the Plano police chief said they would not arrest people caught with 2 ounces of marijuana or less.
And Delta-8 is still temporarily legal after a Travis County judge granted an injunction against the state’s decision to classify the popular cannabis extract as a Schedule I drug, which made it illegal.
Software developer John Beltran, an independent voter who responded to The News/UT-Tyler poll and lives outside Pflugerville in Travis County, said he’s never used marijuana, but from the studies he’s seen, legalizing marijuana could benefit local communities and governments.
“It shows that (marijuana) reduces the need for the use of opioids, in those communities where it’s legal, even when it’s just for medicinal use,” Beltran said. “Recreational use, where it’s regulated and you don’t buy it off the street … and being able to be taxed, to fund social programs or whatever the local governments decide, would make a lot more sense than just letting it be bought from, you know, any random person.”
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(Gromer Jeffers Jr. reported from North Richland Hills, and Emily Caldwell reported from Washington.)
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