Might As Well Give It Another Shot

          I chose an article talking about less severe marijuana charges for a couple of different reasons. I do not smoke, so I am not biased towards this discussion. “Gritsforbreakfast” provided their opinion on the possibility of marijuana possession in the state of Texas being lessened from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class C misdemeanor. The author makes a claim that if House Bill 184 (which relates to penalties for possession of one ounce or less of cannabis) was to be passed, that the indigent defense costs in Texas would significantly decrease as a result.

 The author, I believe, is directing his logical appeal to the court systems of Texas. He uses a logical appeal by believing that the idea of saving money for local budgets is worthy of having a lesser sentence for pot possession. I'm sure, of course, defendants would appreciate this bill being passed as well. But I feel that the real relief would go towards the courts.

In my eyes, it is a valid point. The author provides evidence such as: in 2011, there were 69,770 arrests for marijuana possession (small amounts), according to the DPS. Also, 60% of drug arrests are pot smokers in Texas. That is a lot of arrests and police officers’ time that could be well spent worrying about something else. States like Washington and Colorado already have cannabis legalized, and I see more states jumping on that bandwagon in the future.

When a poor/needy person is charged with a Class B misdemeanor, the county is subjected to pay for a lawyer. If the charges for less than an ounce of pot were switched to a Class C misdemeanor, the defendant wouldn’t be at risk of jail time- therefore, the county would not have to appoint a lawyer. If this house bill were to be passed, the criminal status of being in possession of pot would not disappear. The defendant would still face the title of being in possession and have a misdemeanor. However, with no jail time, this could allow police officers to focus on other things, bring relief to county costs, minimize the population in county jails, etc. Overall- there are better things that could come from this than bad!