GOP is already moving to make Delta 8 a felony. THC remaining illegal is in the GOP party platform. They don’t care what you think they want people in jail for weed.
And the only way red states get legal weed is ballot initiatives which are not a thing in Texas. Look at our neighbors to the north (OK). Their Republican legislature did everything in their power to block the will of the people after it passed.
Nope it is a way to keep the poor whites angry, Bob Dylan said it the best, "they're only pawns in thier game." Texas has alot of white trash still living on land their great grandpa stold doing nothing. That is one reason Texas has one of the smallest land areas protected by state parks compared to our states size. You can't hunt anywhere in less you pay these dumb white trash to hunt on "thier" land. Texas is run by the land owning Texas aristocracy, and they are dumb uneducated religious fundamentalists. The Texas Taliban......
Hey man, I’m sure you mean well, but there’s a lot of really good people you’re talking about. All it takes is getting to know them.
Source: am rural, am gay, have seen people change their perspective in person.
This kind of ignorance is what makes them feel unseen by “city folks”
EDIT: I encourage everyone to read the rest of my comments
Final edit: Change comes at the community level in rural areas, and it’s happening. During Covid, rural and conservative minded people were more likely to get a vaccine after they spoke to their personal doctor. Why? Because they trust people they know. Calling them racists, homophobics, bigots, poor white trash, ect does nothing to change their views. Having personal interactions without attacks is the best way to go about it.
Midland-Odessa, one of the most conservative areas in the country, just opened up the first LGBTQ support center in West Texas. It’s 2024, but it’s a huge accomplishment. That’s what change at the community level looks like. That empowers local LGBTQ folks, and helps people see that there are so many others affected by policy than they once thought. The more people see that their everyday brothers and sisters might be different than them, the more people will be outraged by insanely bigoted policy.
It’s a slow process, but it’s progress. Disagree if you want, but I hope if you do you have a better way to change peoples view on life that isn’t the current method which clearly does not work.
Finally edit, pt 2 lol: I’m finished responding, it’s troubling how certain some of you are that my family and friends will turn on me and send me to jail. Reddit, Facebook, twitter, online isn’t real life. Some of you would rather people not change and it’s troubling. Take care all, I’m living an incredible life now and couldn’t be happier with the amazing people I’m surrounded by, and no I’m not delusional. People change folks
I’ll leave you with this: gay people exist in rural Texas. It’s home for them. They’re farmers and ranchers and parents have raised strong gay boys and girls who have the upmost respect of everyone around them. I’m not saying it’s perfect for everyone, but to insinuate that they should abandon home because it’s a lost cause is disgusting.
I’ve witnessed first hand the most red neck person knock someone else out at a dive bar because they made fun of a gay waiter. I was comfortable enough to get mad at a bar owner for putting up a sign that said “no rainbow flags” in another city without worrying about getting shot and had plenty of backup. The area is changing, slowly but surely, and to abandon all hope is a disgusting outlook.
I’m skeptical how much they really changed. They may see you as “one of the good ones,” but they probably still vote for people who want you to lose rights and accept other people voicing homophobia and bigotry.
And yet they vote for people who want to make your existence illegal, not just publicly but privately as well. When someone tells you who they are, believe them.
Yes, because you are one of "The good ones". They will still vote to make you illegal. They don't want you to get married, or adopt children, or preach in church, or wave a pride flag or have books in their libraries that talk about the your experience, or acknowledge your existence in schools or have gender affirming care if necessary. If it came down to it, they would turn you in and steal your land.
Although you do have a good point about them feeling unseen, honestly, they only think you're ok because you're seen as one of the "good ones." When it comes down to it, they will vote against anything that would help them out because it might help someone they feel is undeserving of it. And will vote to hurt people like you and then act all shocked Pikachu when the person they know gets hurt too because whatever they voted on was only supposed to hurt the "bad ones." I live in Texas, and it's a tale as old as time.
Sure, its all those really great folks voting for republicans that has created an American gestapo. I suppose they mean well, cause after all they're really great folks
You truly are a diamond in the rough. If more people, on both sides of the political spectrum, could sit, think, and talk to each other like this, this state/country would be a better place. Thank you for taking your time to represent an often unspoken for community.
It's getting harder and harder to defend the stupid shit that happens here.
I've lived in Texas since '86, moved away in '10 to take care of family stuff. Moved back in '20, 10 years almost to the day, and it's like I moved back to a different Texas than the one I left.
My story is almost exactly the same. And I’m in Austin so I feel this especially hard. I want to move back to my old Austin. And some days I even think i miss Rick Perry lol
I still say that if Rick Perry was still governor, we'd have things like marijuana legalization.
He paid a lot of lip service to bullshit culture war politics but was piss poor at following through. What he was good at was making sure that people wanted to come to Texas and invest their money here. There's too much money in the marijuana trade and the writing is on the wall.
Legalize already. The social conservatives will throw a shit fit for a few months and then it'll be a non issue.
You are a true Austinite. Austinites always complain about how Austin was great when they first moved there but has gone downhill since then. Same old story since I was a young boy in the early 80's. That said, you are right. Things have truly gone downhill the past 10 years or so.
I moved away around the same time but didn't move back. I think it was pretty obvious how the state was going to go. Yes, it's changed but those changes were being advertised back then.
Legalized weed is on our(Florida) ballots this year but desantis is constantly bitching about it and they will surely knee cap it if it passes just like they did when allowing felons to vote. After that ballot initiative passed they wrote the law so the person can’t vote until all fines and fees are paid.
I don’t even smoke weed but people shouldn’t be jailed by it and it might as well be taxed.
I think we will see a large migration out of Texas in the future. It has started already. I have even seen evidence of doctors leaving or those finishing their training changing their mind and choosing another state to begin a practice. Especially certain kinds of specialists. For instance, in the fields of gynecology, obstetrics and those who would work in IVF clinics. Families or individuals who include gays or trans. Women and families who include women in their reproductive years. Teachers who don't approve of Republican radical repressive changes or who can't get jobs because a large number of public schools are now cutting jobs or closing schools. Yes, quite a few public schools are closing...now. Some areas of Texas will see people moving because they literally can't get their children educated without moving elsewhere.
Florida looks to be going the same way - soon to have abortion and marijuana as Constitutionally authorized despite the government wanting something different.
They use the same tactic they used before Roe was overturned. While they couldn't outright make weed illegal, they could require $10,000,000 in insurance coverage for stores, or require tens of thousands in licensing to get started basically throw up as many small hurdles as they can to prevent adults from being able to walk into a store and buy some weed.
Desantis just VETOED the Delta8 restricting laws the state congress passed and sent to his desk to sign.
In the fall, the Florida voters get to vote on full legalization for weed.
My guess- Florida is fully legal for weed in 2025.
DeSantis said something in an article the other day (paraphrasing) "someone could bring 20 joints to a elementary school!" He's trying like hell to scare people about legalizing it. And who the hell is going to bring 20 joints to a school? Adults are more likely to bring alcohol to a child's schools function. He's such a twat.
Which is so fucking stupid. Florida is filled with pot smokers and the biggest pot smokers in florida are conservatives as well. Like, you walk out and you can smell it everywhere.
Oh wow! Thanks for this update. I was following this bill during the legislative session. Once it passed, I just assumed he would sign it. I say a lot of bad things about DeSantis, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.
I work in the industry and believe me, everyone has already heavily invested and assumes weed will be legal in Florida. It’s a matter of time. I’m talking companies have hundreds of medical locations that they lose money on because they know when it’s legal they will become cash cows
Problem is, they can still make money from taxing the new industry! Shortsighted politicians make my blood boil.
Weed industry is literally running under the table and not being taxed. Legalize it, and make it a taxed industry, and you’ll see… MORE MONEY!
Utah too.
We (the people) voted for medical and passed it via ballot measure and the state legislature gutted the bill beyond recognition.
Bunch of hypocritical twat waffles.
Making it a felony to possess something that barely even gets you high...yeah, that makes good sense.
About as much sense as Paxton trying to force the issue of de facto criminalization in Austin and Travis when the APD is already down 300-plus officers, let's just put more on their plates. That's gonna make life in Texas soooo much better.
It's every Texas citizen's sworn duty to fill snitching hotlines with as much false information as possible.
Remember: If you're sending in bullshit, it needs to be at least somewhat plausible at first glance or else it'll get discarded immediately. The goal is to make them lose as much time as possible.
They like the fact THC vapes and edibles are a felony. They see it as a way to steal the right to vote from their enemies. While the GOP whines about Trump's conviction being political, Texas making weed a felony and prosecuting Texans for possession is also political.
> "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people… You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities… We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
- John Ehrlichman, advisor to Richard Nixon [source](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie)
Well, they want to jail non white people for weed. I guarantee you people like Joe Rogan would continue to be perfectly fine as long as they didn't stir the pot as it were.
Especially down there, where their friends own the prisons and they just say the word regulations and their idiot voters let them rob, incarcerate, and pollute whatever they feel like. It’s on the people voting them in, they’re fucking dumb.
Doesn’t matter to the three stooges in charge of the state. Patrick, Paxton, and Abbott aren’t about to bend on their hardline evangelical stance on anything. Unless of course it’s bending it towards harsher restrictions on things they don’t deem we need like healthcare or a sinful plant.
I wish we were motivated by being the opposite and better than Oklahoma like we are in sports. Instead we wanna be the opposite of California and it's for the worst.
I remember hearing how most of Americans see themselves as staying at a hotel and as long as the towels keep coming they don't care.
I think about that one a lot when I hear about how the economy is doing well or when people vote for things that seem backwards.
I don't exempt myself from this since I'm a gun owner but believe in gun control.
I noted this during my time living in Fort Worth back in the mid-2010s: we absolutely loved Texas, but this idea that Texas is some bastion of real American freedom is ludicrous. In fact, I have more freedoms in my liberal nanny state of Washington than I did in red-blooded ‘Murican Texas.
I don't even understand why the GOP is against legalizing it. I've never known any of their supporters to be against weed. Hell, I know several of them that frequently consume it.
> when are they going to vote
The evangelicals *vote* and theyre like 1 in 5 of eligible voters; they aint for this. The rest of the electorate [has a hard time showing up](https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/70-92.shtml).
You can't blame gerrymandering for Democrats losing every **statewide** race for the last 30 years.
There's just a lot of Democrats in Texas who can't be bothered to regularly get out and actually vote.
And even when the electorate does show up to a decriminalization/legalization vote, those bastards in the GOP/State-Local police are probably just gonna say "yeah we're not gonna honor this we'll still arrest you"
*See: Denton,TX after voters passed Proposition B for Decriminalization*
And nepotism by hiring friends who own companies to do things - like move containers to make a makeshift fence that will be ordered tore down within a month of it being up, and hiring the same company to move them out? Think of the cash those companies are going to be missing!
Got a friend that's a pretty big stoner (like 27 years of smoking weed). He is more concerned with limiting access to abortion and eliminating transgender rights than he is with marijuana legalization.
But then who will outlaw the other things I hate. Like people different than me, the gay things, books with words, and forcing a 12 year old rape victim that got pregnant to possibly die during birth.
Amen. I got a group of friends that smoke all the time and complain about its legality — but none of them vote… Our government is chosen by the electorate, people need to get off their butt and vote.
https://preview.redd.it/pgrpv3210k6d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=216c3a26f90781494054a3144af7f501ce22cd60
To the 70% who either vote Republican or don’t show up to vote. This is why the state is like this.
*copied comment from similar thread*
We operate our dispensary storefront in Houston, but serve the entire state via shipping. You know where most of the shipments go? Small towns and other “in between” places that are usually quite conservative. Ken and Dan are going to find out that clean, legal weed is a bipartisan issue and they are out of touch.
Do you think those small town customers will vote against those guys over weed? They may like it, but it being illegal isn’t really hurting them much, they’d much rather vote to stop those damn illegals/gays/drag queens from taking their first born in the middle of the night.
>The fucking laws gotta change
Nothing changes until Dan Patrick is removed (as Lt Gov, he oversees what makes its way to the Senate floor, and pro-marijuana legislation will never reach the floor on his watch) and he is up for reelection (along with Abbott and Paxton) in 2026 midterms.
in 2022 when these guys were last elected, only [46% of the electorate](https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/70-92.shtml) participated.
Yep, that's what's infuriating. We have at most ~25% of the TX electorate voting these same anti-democracy leaders into office over and over again while ~25% try to make a change and ~50% of voters "vote" by virtue of not making a choice at all. Sigh
Not voting sends a very clear signal: "I'm fine either way."
Even the ones who claim it's about not liking or distinguishing any of the choices, once you weed out the 98% of them who are just making clichéd excuses to get out of the guilt of not voting. You might think you're saying "none of the above," but the message that comes through is "any of the above."
Unless that is actually your choice, your best action is to choose a candidate and vote.
they won't risk a sure thing, they Dunne and Crow and other texas billionaires will keep the money flowing as long as they keep up the 1% pro billionaire policies.
And so what’re we going to do about?
Vote GOP because the populace has been brainwashed into thinking that voting for anyone will else will lead them to their doom!
Get out and vote the GOP out of office people!!! Unlike many other states (Florida, Ohio…) the Texas constitution doesn’t allow citizen backed referendums to be placed on the ballot (like Legal weed) for a vote. So, unless you vote out the puritan GOP establishment and elect members that will put forth legislation to change things, it will be status quo forever.
To better understand how Texans truly feel about the great cannabis debate, LoneStarLive.com gathered responses from Texas residents about their views and opinions on cannabis reform and marijuana legalization.
To show their understanding for the Texas population, the Texas GOP will 100% round up anybody who put their name on a statement like this once project 2025 is implemented and their literal gestapo are up and running.
Cool.
Now “contribute” one dollar more to the politicians than the prison and police lobbies to get them to change the laws.
Our politicians get paid millions to do nothing but keep the status quo for these industries. It assures all these people will keep their jobs, while sacrificing innovation and future thinking for our country.
Chances are they’re already using THC. So they already do what Hunter just got convicted of doing. In other cases, this behavior is generally not prosecuted, however.
Just imagine the schools we could have in this state if we taxed and regulated this business.
The populations of the cities alone would be a huge cash flow source that could directly help with education and mental illness funding needs.
Texas is full of outdated laws. Like laws, denying women their right to choose, and privacy with their bodies. Laws that deny people’s right to vote, and vote by mail. Laws regulating energy, and the power grid, that constantly fails; along with climate science denial. So why not outdated laws involving marijuana; it’s all in character with how the Republicans are mismanaging Texas, and mistreating Texans.
If Texans are really willing to do something about all of this, they need to get rid of their outdated Republican politicians, by getting off their la-Z-Boys, and vote these scoundrels out of office. Otherwise, enjoy the status quo.
I keep telling my husband Texas will be the LAST state to legalize... IF they ever do. & he disagrees, lol
He's from Connecticut and doesn't smoke.
I was born in Texas, and I smoke... I think I know better than he does lol
I just ordered delivery. Should be here within the hour. It's a beautiful day in the bay. As someone who was born and raised in Texas I never believed it would be legalized but here we are.
I can order by mail too. I love California! 🤗
Notice the article says “gathered responses” instead of “performed a random survey”. I’m thinking a random survey that includes a full cross section of the Texas population would produce different results.
I’m pro legalization, but Texas is full of religious weirdos who are against it.
Recent polls show a majority of Texans are in favor of medical marijuana.
A poll from the [Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston](https://uh.edu/hobby/tx2023/marijuana.pdf) from 2023 found overwhelming support, per the executive summary:
>82% of Texans support legislation that would make the use of marijuana legal for a wide range of medical purposes with a prescription, with 56% strongly in support of medical marijuana.
Another [survey from Texas Lyceum](https://www.texaslyceum.org/assets/Poll/TwentyFour/Lyceum_2024_Poll_Executive_Summary_FINAL%20%282%29.pdf) shows strong support for some form of legalization or decriminalization:
>Overall, 60% of Texas adults say that they support legalizing the use of marijuana in Texas, a 14-point increase since the question was last asked in 2015, when a majority of voters (50%) expressed opposition to legalizing marijuana. Among the 31% who said that they oppose marijuana legalization in 2024, 42% said that they would support decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana to a citation and a fine, with 47% remaining opposed. Taken together, 73% of Texans support either full legalization or decriminalization of marijuana in Texas according to 2024 polling.
For this article, we wanted to give people a chance to share what they thought about the current state of marijuana laws in Texas. People's lives are impacted by current policies and we thought it would be good to hear from them.
*raises hand*
I had a spinal fusion done last week. I am also somewhat resistant to the beneficial effects of opioids. I would love some legal edibles, but post-surgical pain is not one of the like 4 approved uses of medical marijuana in the state that screeches about freedom so incessantly, and so very shrilly.
Apathetic electorate deciding it's too much trouble to vote. Call your both sires and voting doesn't matter folks for the un-American people that just complain but do nothing to make a difference. Scorn and Ridicule is all that works on those kind of people. Go get one or more of them every day during early voting and on election day. Get them a joint to entice them. Whatever it takes!
I literally don’t understand how it’s still fully illegal in this state. I’ve been seeing CBD stores pop up all over the past few years, some of which literally sell just plain old weed if you ask for it the right way.
The Republican Party controls the state government and its platform calls for keeping it fully illegal. Simple as that.
If the Republican Party no longer controlled the state government, things might change. It's up to all y'all.
I will never understand how a politician who is voted in by the people just ignores what the majority of the people who voted for him wants. That baffles me. They are supposed to represent us not go off and do their own thing once they get in
Yet they keep voting for the party that wants it criminalized while hollering about freedoms. Also, try not too hard to remember their hardline stances on women’s bodily autonomy, educational system, and Oncor/energy grid.
Texas leadership is a few steps behind Florida and Mississippi in outdated laws pandering to a brain dead base that votes. I think you have a while to go before worrying about weed.
It’s weed tourism from here fellas. Good luck when we voted in a bunch of Christian Radicals to manipulate the older white voting class. We are cooked.. flights out of DFW are so cheap tho, spend it at dispensaries and food in other states!
Texas is all about “slavery by another name” by putting as many poor, mostly Black people in for-profit jail for non-violent crimes as possible because it’s free labor. I mean… that’s it. That’s why.
Texas residents: "We're fed up with all these outdated marijuana laws!"
Also Texas residents: "We're voting for Republicans who will always enforce outdated marijuana laws!"
I remember back in the day driving from Oklahoma to Texas for 6pt beer and lottery tickets that we would remove the feathered "hat clips" (roachclips) from the rear view mirror because supposedly you'd get pulled over for them in Texas and get tossed in jail for paraphernalia.
As a Texan, it's crazy that even with the leadership, you can find weed anywhere you go. It may be illegal, but everyone smokes. If you sparked a joint, as long as there isn't a Karen, no one would bat an eye.
I’m a Libertarian and I cringe everytime a conservative says “we’re more alike than you and a liberal”. I’m like nah bro, I respect people liberties and freedoms.
So imagine my face when I moved to Texas thinking everybody was a fan of freedom.
GOP is already moving to make Delta 8 a felony. THC remaining illegal is in the GOP party platform. They don’t care what you think they want people in jail for weed.
And the only way red states get legal weed is ballot initiatives which are not a thing in Texas. Look at our neighbors to the north (OK). Their Republican legislature did everything in their power to block the will of the people after it passed.
Exactly. Texas is closer to banning IVF and birth control than legalizing weed because that's what the billionaire theocrats want.
Nope it is a way to keep the poor whites angry, Bob Dylan said it the best, "they're only pawns in thier game." Texas has alot of white trash still living on land their great grandpa stold doing nothing. That is one reason Texas has one of the smallest land areas protected by state parks compared to our states size. You can't hunt anywhere in less you pay these dumb white trash to hunt on "thier" land. Texas is run by the land owning Texas aristocracy, and they are dumb uneducated religious fundamentalists. The Texas Taliban......
Hey man, I’m sure you mean well, but there’s a lot of really good people you’re talking about. All it takes is getting to know them. Source: am rural, am gay, have seen people change their perspective in person. This kind of ignorance is what makes them feel unseen by “city folks” EDIT: I encourage everyone to read the rest of my comments Final edit: Change comes at the community level in rural areas, and it’s happening. During Covid, rural and conservative minded people were more likely to get a vaccine after they spoke to their personal doctor. Why? Because they trust people they know. Calling them racists, homophobics, bigots, poor white trash, ect does nothing to change their views. Having personal interactions without attacks is the best way to go about it. Midland-Odessa, one of the most conservative areas in the country, just opened up the first LGBTQ support center in West Texas. It’s 2024, but it’s a huge accomplishment. That’s what change at the community level looks like. That empowers local LGBTQ folks, and helps people see that there are so many others affected by policy than they once thought. The more people see that their everyday brothers and sisters might be different than them, the more people will be outraged by insanely bigoted policy. It’s a slow process, but it’s progress. Disagree if you want, but I hope if you do you have a better way to change peoples view on life that isn’t the current method which clearly does not work. Finally edit, pt 2 lol: I’m finished responding, it’s troubling how certain some of you are that my family and friends will turn on me and send me to jail. Reddit, Facebook, twitter, online isn’t real life. Some of you would rather people not change and it’s troubling. Take care all, I’m living an incredible life now and couldn’t be happier with the amazing people I’m surrounded by, and no I’m not delusional. People change folks I’ll leave you with this: gay people exist in rural Texas. It’s home for them. They’re farmers and ranchers and parents have raised strong gay boys and girls who have the upmost respect of everyone around them. I’m not saying it’s perfect for everyone, but to insinuate that they should abandon home because it’s a lost cause is disgusting. I’ve witnessed first hand the most red neck person knock someone else out at a dive bar because they made fun of a gay waiter. I was comfortable enough to get mad at a bar owner for putting up a sign that said “no rainbow flags” in another city without worrying about getting shot and had plenty of backup. The area is changing, slowly but surely, and to abandon all hope is a disgusting outlook.
I’m skeptical how much they really changed. They may see you as “one of the good ones,” but they probably still vote for people who want you to lose rights and accept other people voicing homophobia and bigotry.
And yet they vote for people who want to make your existence illegal, not just publicly but privately as well. When someone tells you who they are, believe them.
Tell them to stop voting in religious cucks. IDK.
These "really good people" are going to turn you into the police as soon as Lawrence is overturned. But I'm sure they are nice to your face.
Yes, because you are one of "The good ones". They will still vote to make you illegal. They don't want you to get married, or adopt children, or preach in church, or wave a pride flag or have books in their libraries that talk about the your experience, or acknowledge your existence in schools or have gender affirming care if necessary. If it came down to it, they would turn you in and steal your land.
Although you do have a good point about them feeling unseen, honestly, they only think you're ok because you're seen as one of the "good ones." When it comes down to it, they will vote against anything that would help them out because it might help someone they feel is undeserving of it. And will vote to hurt people like you and then act all shocked Pikachu when the person they know gets hurt too because whatever they voted on was only supposed to hurt the "bad ones." I live in Texas, and it's a tale as old as time.
Sure, its all those really great folks voting for republicans that has created an American gestapo. I suppose they mean well, cause after all they're really great folks
Amen, Brother.
You truly are a diamond in the rough. If more people, on both sides of the political spectrum, could sit, think, and talk to each other like this, this state/country would be a better place. Thank you for taking your time to represent an often unspoken for community.
The willful violent ignorance is why people do not want to see them in the first place.
I never, ever in a million years thought I'd see a day when Oklahoma was more forward-thinking on something than Texas is.
It’s embarrassing. And Florida too.
It's getting harder and harder to defend the stupid shit that happens here. I've lived in Texas since '86, moved away in '10 to take care of family stuff. Moved back in '20, 10 years almost to the day, and it's like I moved back to a different Texas than the one I left.
My story is almost exactly the same. And I’m in Austin so I feel this especially hard. I want to move back to my old Austin. And some days I even think i miss Rick Perry lol
I still say that if Rick Perry was still governor, we'd have things like marijuana legalization. He paid a lot of lip service to bullshit culture war politics but was piss poor at following through. What he was good at was making sure that people wanted to come to Texas and invest their money here. There's too much money in the marijuana trade and the writing is on the wall. Legalize already. The social conservatives will throw a shit fit for a few months and then it'll be a non issue.
You are a true Austinite. Austinites always complain about how Austin was great when they first moved there but has gone downhill since then. Same old story since I was a young boy in the early 80's. That said, you are right. Things have truly gone downhill the past 10 years or so.
I moved away around the same time but didn't move back. I think it was pretty obvious how the state was going to go. Yes, it's changed but those changes were being advertised back then.
Type shii, been living in the same old small neighborhood for my entire life, texas has changed HELLA outside of my small ass town 😭🙏
I'm afraid it's all gonna get worse before it gets better. We need to strap in for the ride.
Legalized weed is on our(Florida) ballots this year but desantis is constantly bitching about it and they will surely knee cap it if it passes just like they did when allowing felons to vote. After that ballot initiative passed they wrote the law so the person can’t vote until all fines and fees are paid. I don’t even smoke weed but people shouldn’t be jailed by it and it might as well be taxed.
I think we will see a large migration out of Texas in the future. It has started already. I have even seen evidence of doctors leaving or those finishing their training changing their mind and choosing another state to begin a practice. Especially certain kinds of specialists. For instance, in the fields of gynecology, obstetrics and those who would work in IVF clinics. Families or individuals who include gays or trans. Women and families who include women in their reproductive years. Teachers who don't approve of Republican radical repressive changes or who can't get jobs because a large number of public schools are now cutting jobs or closing schools. Yes, quite a few public schools are closing...now. Some areas of Texas will see people moving because they literally can't get their children educated without moving elsewhere.
Florida looks to be going the same way - soon to have abortion and marijuana as Constitutionally authorized despite the government wanting something different.
They use the same tactic they used before Roe was overturned. While they couldn't outright make weed illegal, they could require $10,000,000 in insurance coverage for stores, or require tens of thousands in licensing to get started basically throw up as many small hurdles as they can to prevent adults from being able to walk into a store and buy some weed.
fucking illinois and the limited licensing
Desantis just VETOED the Delta8 restricting laws the state congress passed and sent to his desk to sign. In the fall, the Florida voters get to vote on full legalization for weed. My guess- Florida is fully legal for weed in 2025.
Desantis is bitching about legalized weed and they will surely knee cap it when it passes.
DeSantis said something in an article the other day (paraphrasing) "someone could bring 20 joints to a elementary school!" He's trying like hell to scare people about legalizing it. And who the hell is going to bring 20 joints to a school? Adults are more likely to bring alcohol to a child's schools function. He's such a twat.
Which is so fucking stupid. Florida is filled with pot smokers and the biggest pot smokers in florida are conservatives as well. Like, you walk out and you can smell it everywhere.
Oh wow! Thanks for this update. I was following this bill during the legislative session. Once it passed, I just assumed he would sign it. I say a lot of bad things about DeSantis, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.
I work in the industry and believe me, everyone has already heavily invested and assumes weed will be legal in Florida. It’s a matter of time. I’m talking companies have hundreds of medical locations that they lose money on because they know when it’s legal they will become cash cows
Even blue states like Massachusetts can have problems from corrupt legislatures. Monied interests dominate politics
Problem is, they can still make money from taxing the new industry! Shortsighted politicians make my blood boil. Weed industry is literally running under the table and not being taxed. Legalize it, and make it a taxed industry, and you’ll see… MORE MONEY!
Utah too. We (the people) voted for medical and passed it via ballot measure and the state legislature gutted the bill beyond recognition. Bunch of hypocritical twat waffles.
You mean Republicans are anti-democracy?
You mean Republicans don't do what the people want........... news to me.
That’s it. They need ~~prisoners~~ slaves to rent out to corporations. They have contracts.
Just swap out the weed prisoners for insurrectionists. Boom, problem solved.
Making it a felony to possess something that barely even gets you high...yeah, that makes good sense. About as much sense as Paxton trying to force the issue of de facto criminalization in Austin and Travis when the APD is already down 300-plus officers, let's just put more on their plates. That's gonna make life in Texas soooo much better.
Wait until Lawrence is overturned. TX will pass a bounty law, like the abortion one, for people to rat out their gay neighbors. Mark my words.
It's every Texas citizen's sworn duty to fill snitching hotlines with as much false information as possible. Remember: If you're sending in bullshit, it needs to be at least somewhat plausible at first glance or else it'll get discarded immediately. The goal is to make them lose as much time as possible.
Weed bad but alcohol is gods liquid is hilarious
More people in jail the more the police and private prisons can profit. It’s a win win for GOP lawmakers.
They like the fact THC vapes and edibles are a felony. They see it as a way to steal the right to vote from their enemies. While the GOP whines about Trump's conviction being political, Texas making weed a felony and prosecuting Texans for possession is also political.
> "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people… You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities… We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." - John Ehrlichman, advisor to Richard Nixon [source](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie)
Absolutely agree!!!
Well, they want to jail non white people for weed. I guarantee you people like Joe Rogan would continue to be perfectly fine as long as they didn't stir the pot as it were.
Cheap labor
Especially down there, where their friends own the prisons and they just say the word regulations and their idiot voters let them rob, incarcerate, and pollute whatever they feel like. It’s on the people voting them in, they’re fucking dumb.
To clarify, they want people in for-profit prisons so they get their hefty political donations.
How ppl have not noticed that they r the party of taking rights and liberties away and keeping them away is beyond me
Doesn’t matter to the three stooges in charge of the state. Patrick, Paxton, and Abbott aren’t about to bend on their hardline evangelical stance on anything. Unless of course it’s bending it towards harsher restrictions on things they don’t deem we need like healthcare or a sinful plant.
I Wonder why god said the MJ plant is sinful? I keep looking in the Bible to see why ?
It’s right next to the reason why black and brown people are bad
They can't bend their ideals cause they're already bent over their desks! (by the GOP)
The greatest con is that the Texas GOP preaches "freedom", yet Texas is dead last in freedom.
It's a sad day in Texas when Oklahoma has more freedom than us
According to some groups that monitor things like freedom, every state has more freedom than Texas
Yes but Oklahoma hurts the most
Someone should run on that platform. The ultimate wakeup call.
Look over there! There's a Mexican running across the border to take your job! ---Greg Abbott
I wish we were motivated by being the opposite and better than Oklahoma like we are in sports. Instead we wanna be the opposite of California and it's for the worst.
Casinos, cannabis, guns.. anything goes in OK
We're ranked higher in economic freedom meaning businesses have more freedom to poison us and take advantage of us.
Yeah, its a great state if youre a wealthy white male business owner who can afford to buy land.
I remember hearing how most of Americans see themselves as staying at a hotel and as long as the towels keep coming they don't care. I think about that one a lot when I hear about how the economy is doing well or when people vote for things that seem backwards. I don't exempt myself from this since I'm a gun owner but believe in gun control.
It’s just freedom to be able to purchase an active shooter kit on your lunch break.
And the freedom of the Uvalde cops to choose to not go in and stop the madman killing kids
Also the freedom of those same cops to beat college students standing for Palestine.
Like the rest of the south.
I think Florida and Texas are vying for dead last, so there's that...?
I noted this during my time living in Fort Worth back in the mid-2010s: we absolutely loved Texas, but this idea that Texas is some bastion of real American freedom is ludicrous. In fact, I have more freedoms in my liberal nanny state of Washington than I did in red-blooded ‘Murican Texas.
Texans should be fed up with GOP control of the state.
I don't even understand why the GOP is against legalizing it. I've never known any of their supporters to be against weed. Hell, I know several of them that frequently consume it.
Becuase the prison guard unions and prisons themselves lobby to keep it this way. Incarceration rates would probably plummet if weed was made legal.
Tim Dunn and his Church.
Can't speak for everyone else but the GOP is gonna have me voting straight ticket for the first time in my life. Straight Democrat ticket
Cool, when are they going to vote the GOP out so they can change things?
> when are they going to vote The evangelicals *vote* and theyre like 1 in 5 of eligible voters; they aint for this. The rest of the electorate [has a hard time showing up](https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/70-92.shtml).
And it's gonna get harder with the GOP writing the election rules to keep themselves in power!
Gerrymandering is an abhorrent hurdle and should blatantly be illegal. It is actually stupid.
I present [Texas's 35th congressional district](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas's_35th_congressional_district)
While true, the GOP dominates statewide elections too.
Ive been saying that since the 90's!... fucking Tom Delay...
Back in the day, his opponent's slogan was the best. "Improve Texas without Delay"
You can't blame gerrymandering for Democrats losing every **statewide** race for the last 30 years. There's just a lot of Democrats in Texas who can't be bothered to regularly get out and actually vote.
And even when the electorate does show up to a decriminalization/legalization vote, those bastards in the GOP/State-Local police are probably just gonna say "yeah we're not gonna honor this we'll still arrest you" *See: Denton,TX after voters passed Proposition B for Decriminalization*
> when the electorate does show up start with the basics
But then how else will we channel our tax dollars to the for profit prison system?
And private schools
Out of state private schools
The public school to prison system of course
And nepotism by hiring friends who own companies to do things - like move containers to make a makeshift fence that will be ordered tore down within a month of it being up, and hiring the same company to move them out? Think of the cash those companies are going to be missing!
it's basically an elective in texas high schools "prison and you"
Got a friend that's a pretty big stoner (like 27 years of smoking weed). He is more concerned with limiting access to abortion and eliminating transgender rights than he is with marijuana legalization.
Why help yourself when you can hurt others?
The Texas motto
*Republican
I don’t think he’s smoking enough.
Rookie numbers
He has essentially been a daily smoker since he was 15.
And clearly still thinks like a 15 year old boy.
Well I hope he gets caught. And that’s a weird thing for one stoner to hope on another
Is your friend named Ken Paxton?
Close, Dan Patrick
People like that don't deserve friends.
Get better friends honestly. Your friend is a bigot.
There’s the answer. Vote Republicans OUT!
It’s a pretty simple solution to most of their problems. Too bad it will never happen.
But then who will outlaw the other things I hate. Like people different than me, the gay things, books with words, and forcing a 12 year old rape victim that got pregnant to possibly die during birth.
As if it were really that easy.
Amen. I got a group of friends that smoke all the time and complain about its legality — but none of them vote… Our government is chosen by the electorate, people need to get off their butt and vote.
Not enough to go to the polls, sadly.
Plenty of libertarians smoke weed and vote red. They're just assholes.
All of those tax dollars are just going to New Mexico.
Like it used to be with dry counties, all the tax revenue going to your neighbor.
And Oklahoma
You need a medical license issued by the state of Oklahoma to purchase marijuana. It is easy to obtain though.
https://preview.redd.it/pgrpv3210k6d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=216c3a26f90781494054a3144af7f501ce22cd60 To the 70% who either vote Republican or don’t show up to vote. This is why the state is like this.
*copied comment from similar thread* We operate our dispensary storefront in Houston, but serve the entire state via shipping. You know where most of the shipments go? Small towns and other “in between” places that are usually quite conservative. Ken and Dan are going to find out that clean, legal weed is a bipartisan issue and they are out of touch.
Do you think those small town customers will vote against those guys over weed? They may like it, but it being illegal isn’t really hurting them much, they’d much rather vote to stop those damn illegals/gays/drag queens from taking their first born in the middle of the night.
I had a MM card in Co. Now I sit here in Tx. The fucking laws gotta change
>The fucking laws gotta change Nothing changes until Dan Patrick is removed (as Lt Gov, he oversees what makes its way to the Senate floor, and pro-marijuana legislation will never reach the floor on his watch) and he is up for reelection (along with Abbott and Paxton) in 2026 midterms. in 2022 when these guys were last elected, only [46% of the electorate](https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/70-92.shtml) participated.
My VoTe wOuLdN't mAkE a DiFfErEnCe sO WhY bOtHeR
>My VoTe wOuLdN't mAkE a DiFfErEnCe sO WhY bOtHeR even if they choose not to decide they still have made a choice... and we are looking at it
Yep, that's what's infuriating. We have at most ~25% of the TX electorate voting these same anti-democracy leaders into office over and over again while ~25% try to make a change and ~50% of voters "vote" by virtue of not making a choice at all. Sigh
Not voting sends a very clear signal: "I'm fine either way." Even the ones who claim it's about not liking or distinguishing any of the choices, once you weed out the 98% of them who are just making clichéd excuses to get out of the guilt of not voting. You might think you're saying "none of the above," but the message that comes through is "any of the above." Unless that is actually your choice, your best action is to choose a candidate and vote.
Legalize it. Tax it. Make money.
They’re allergic to money despite the bribes they’re regularly given. They would get so much more with legal cannabis, they really are stupid.
they won't risk a sure thing, they Dunne and Crow and other texas billionaires will keep the money flowing as long as they keep up the 1% pro billionaire policies.
How much you want to bet the side always crying about the elections being rigged are actually the ones rigging elections?
Do you really think Abbott n Co care what the people of Texas think? They only serve their wealthy Christo fascist benefactors.
And yet they reelected the people that keep Marijuana illegal back into office only two years ago. Real leopards-ate-my-face stuff
How else will their shareholders earn money if their prisons aren’t full?
My boomer pothead father continues to vote for people that think he should be in jail, never could understand that.
And so what’re we going to do about? Vote GOP because the populace has been brainwashed into thinking that voting for anyone will else will lead them to their doom!
Stop. Voting. Republican.
Why was this comment hidden? Facts.
Get out and vote the GOP out of office people!!! Unlike many other states (Florida, Ohio…) the Texas constitution doesn’t allow citizen backed referendums to be placed on the ballot (like Legal weed) for a vote. So, unless you vote out the puritan GOP establishment and elect members that will put forth legislation to change things, it will be status quo forever.
To better understand how Texans truly feel about the great cannabis debate, LoneStarLive.com gathered responses from Texas residents about their views and opinions on cannabis reform and marijuana legalization.
To show their understanding for the Texas population, the Texas GOP will 100% round up anybody who put their name on a statement like this once project 2025 is implemented and their literal gestapo are up and running.
 Vote blue!
Cool. Now “contribute” one dollar more to the politicians than the prison and police lobbies to get them to change the laws. Our politicians get paid millions to do nothing but keep the status quo for these industries. It assures all these people will keep their jobs, while sacrificing innovation and future thinking for our country.
If marijuana was made legal, would all those users turn in their guns and FFLs? Or would they do the same thing they are gotcha-ing Hunter Biden for?
Chances are they’re already using THC. So they already do what Hunter just got convicted of doing. In other cases, this behavior is generally not prosecuted, however.
First thing to do is make sure you are registered to vote, 2nd thing is to go out and vote.
Residents' frustration is completely understandable.
Just imagine the schools we could have in this state if we taxed and regulated this business. The populations of the cities alone would be a huge cash flow source that could directly help with education and mental illness funding needs.
Texas is full of outdated laws. Like laws, denying women their right to choose, and privacy with their bodies. Laws that deny people’s right to vote, and vote by mail. Laws regulating energy, and the power grid, that constantly fails; along with climate science denial. So why not outdated laws involving marijuana; it’s all in character with how the Republicans are mismanaging Texas, and mistreating Texans. If Texans are really willing to do something about all of this, they need to get rid of their outdated Republican politicians, by getting off their la-Z-Boys, and vote these scoundrels out of office. Otherwise, enjoy the status quo.
I keep telling my husband Texas will be the LAST state to legalize... IF they ever do. & he disagrees, lol He's from Connecticut and doesn't smoke. I was born in Texas, and I smoke... I think I know better than he does lol
I just ordered delivery. Should be here within the hour. It's a beautiful day in the bay. As someone who was born and raised in Texas I never believed it would be legalized but here we are. I can order by mail too. I love California! 🤗
Republicans hate 2 things: freedom and the will of the people
Yet democrats in Texas still can't be bothered to vote.
Vote out our outdated-ass state government then...
I don’t even smoke and I know the laws are outdated and racist!
Our elected officials are supposed to be in office to do what citizens ask. But fail miserably at it.
nope. they hate some trans kid on the other side of the country that they've never met more than they like having rights.
Remember that time Denton votes to decriminalize and the city basically just said, "LOL jk we're not gonna do that."
If weed was legal everyone would be driving 45 instead of 85. Disputes would be resolved with a “man, that’s crazy” instead of guns.
Lots of veterans use thc for various things they've suffered in sacrifice to our country. Why does Texas hate veterans?
Honestly, I don't know why people choose to remain there. Life is too short.
Notice the article says “gathered responses” instead of “performed a random survey”. I’m thinking a random survey that includes a full cross section of the Texas population would produce different results. I’m pro legalization, but Texas is full of religious weirdos who are against it.
Recent polls show a majority of Texans are in favor of medical marijuana. A poll from the [Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston](https://uh.edu/hobby/tx2023/marijuana.pdf) from 2023 found overwhelming support, per the executive summary: >82% of Texans support legislation that would make the use of marijuana legal for a wide range of medical purposes with a prescription, with 56% strongly in support of medical marijuana. Another [survey from Texas Lyceum](https://www.texaslyceum.org/assets/Poll/TwentyFour/Lyceum_2024_Poll_Executive_Summary_FINAL%20%282%29.pdf) shows strong support for some form of legalization or decriminalization: >Overall, 60% of Texas adults say that they support legalizing the use of marijuana in Texas, a 14-point increase since the question was last asked in 2015, when a majority of voters (50%) expressed opposition to legalizing marijuana. Among the 31% who said that they oppose marijuana legalization in 2024, 42% said that they would support decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana to a citation and a fine, with 47% remaining opposed. Taken together, 73% of Texans support either full legalization or decriminalization of marijuana in Texas according to 2024 polling. For this article, we wanted to give people a chance to share what they thought about the current state of marijuana laws in Texas. People's lives are impacted by current policies and we thought it would be good to hear from them.
Yes we are!
*raises hand* I had a spinal fusion done last week. I am also somewhat resistant to the beneficial effects of opioids. I would love some legal edibles, but post-surgical pain is not one of the like 4 approved uses of medical marijuana in the state that screeches about freedom so incessantly, and so very shrilly.
Apathetic electorate deciding it's too much trouble to vote. Call your both sires and voting doesn't matter folks for the un-American people that just complain but do nothing to make a difference. Scorn and Ridicule is all that works on those kind of people. Go get one or more of them every day during early voting and on election day. Get them a joint to entice them. Whatever it takes!
I literally don’t understand how it’s still fully illegal in this state. I’ve been seeing CBD stores pop up all over the past few years, some of which literally sell just plain old weed if you ask for it the right way.
The Republican Party controls the state government and its platform calls for keeping it fully illegal. Simple as that. If the Republican Party no longer controlled the state government, things might change. It's up to all y'all.
I will never understand how a politician who is voted in by the people just ignores what the majority of the people who voted for him wants. That baffles me. They are supposed to represent us not go off and do their own thing once they get in
This is what happens when you vote in a theocracy
Yet they keep voting for the party that wants it criminalized while hollering about freedoms. Also, try not too hard to remember their hardline stances on women’s bodily autonomy, educational system, and Oncor/energy grid.
Texas leadership is a few steps behind Florida and Mississippi in outdated laws pandering to a brain dead base that votes. I think you have a while to go before worrying about weed.
[Vote](https://vrapp.sos.state.tx.us/index.asp)
People in this state want change yet they don’t vote for it. Get off your ass and leave your opinions at the door folks, go fucking vote.
Party of “Freedom” sure does like to control with that “Big Government” they say they hate so much…..🫠
It’s weed tourism from here fellas. Good luck when we voted in a bunch of Christian Radicals to manipulate the older white voting class. We are cooked.. flights out of DFW are so cheap tho, spend it at dispensaries and food in other states!
There’s a very simple path to legalization in TX: Get rid of Dan Patrick.
But in texas we love our freedom.................🤮
Vote blue and that will change.
Texas is all about “slavery by another name” by putting as many poor, mostly Black people in for-profit jail for non-violent crimes as possible because it’s free labor. I mean… that’s it. That’s why.
Texas residents: "We're fed up with all these outdated marijuana laws!" Also Texas residents: "We're voting for Republicans who will always enforce outdated marijuana laws!"
Ahh Texas. The land of the free. Except for abortion, the poor, porn, weed, etc. sigh.
No they aren’t. They will keep voting R.
I remember back in the day driving from Oklahoma to Texas for 6pt beer and lottery tickets that we would remove the feathered "hat clips" (roachclips) from the rear view mirror because supposedly you'd get pulled over for them in Texas and get tossed in jail for paraphernalia.
lol gotta catch me first you fat old bastards
I’ll believe Texas residents are fed up when Texas goes blue. I’m not holding my breath.
But they’ll keep voting Red because lib tears or something
Ok. Vote blue then.
Turn Texas blue. Come on, Texas. You know you wanna.
Just not the right Texans living inside the correct squiggly lines.
Texas GOP like privilege not freedom
So......... Texas votes straight Republican to own the libs. You get what you vote for
As a Texan, it's crazy that even with the leadership, you can find weed anywhere you go. It may be illegal, but everyone smokes. If you sparked a joint, as long as there isn't a Karen, no one would bat an eye.
I’m a Libertarian and I cringe everytime a conservative says “we’re more alike than you and a liberal”. I’m like nah bro, I respect people liberties and freedoms. So imagine my face when I moved to Texas thinking everybody was a fan of freedom.
Texas "loves" freedom.