Any chance Texas will ever legalize or decriminalize weed?

[bamacrat]

From a revenue stand point and from a border control stand point. Seems like a no brainer, take away drug smugglers while raising money. Just though I would ask, I'm new to the state and haven't gotten a feel for the mood regarding mj.

[onestepforward]

1. I think it will be a long time

before Texas or other southern states decriminalize it. I agree, it is a no brainer and would help to decrease violence on the Texas/Mexico border, but Texas is very slow to change. My Mom, a native Texan, always said that Texas is at least 15 years behind California and I think she was right. Individual cities may decriminalize it earlier, but it will be awhile.

[sonias]

2. Not very likely

Especially on the legalization route. The right wing fundies still control quite a bit in the state and they will fight tooth and nail against this. They've managed to keep gambling to a minimum in this state and the state could definitely use that money. So the potential of increased revenue won't make one bit of difference to them. They'll just frame it as money from the devil.

It might be a no-brainer to you and me, but brains and making sense has never been a requirement for Texas law. In fact I would argue that the opposite is often true. In Texas it would sell better if it actually cost the state money to "follow God's laws".

The state shells out quite a bit of money for ineffective programs like abstinence only. So there is very little point in arguing that legalizing pot would make money for the state or save us money by incarcerating fewer people. The wingers don't care. They feel like it's money well spent. They like incarcerating people they think are bad, and they like wasting money on things they feel promote a "good christian life".

And they only way they feel costs should be cut is by cutting safety net programs and privatizing services.

God told them capitalism is crucial to a good christian life and that poor people are poor because they are lazy. And don't you question God's word! They can show you all the quotes in the bible too! :crazy:

This was the latest update from the last Legislative session on drug laws: The Texas Legislature only meets once every two years - They won't meet again until 2011

Austin Chronicle 5/8/09
Drug Laws; A Mixed Bag
(snip)
Sadly, that's where the hope of progressive reform ends. Austin Rep. Elliott Naishtat's perennial medi-pot bill, House Bill 164, hasn't even been called up for a hearing, and two proposals to downgrade penalties for possession of minor amounts of drugs by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, also appear primed to stall in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. That also looks to be the fate of a progressive treatment-not-jail bill by Sens. Ellis; John Carona, R-Dallas; and John Whitmire, D-Houston, which would save the state more than $40 million through 2014. This is the second time the measure has been proposed and, most likely, the second time it will die.

Sonia

[bamacrat]

3. That sucks, I moved here from Alabama,

I thought that it wouldnt be so stupid but I see a red state is a red state is a red state. I hear it is decriminalized in Austin. Just sucks going from a college town to an unknown place.

[sonias]

4. Austin is more progressive but be careful even here

Williamson county right next door (Round Rock) is tough on crime crazy.

Sonia

[NoPasaran]

5. The most likely scenario

Proclamation by general of occupying army landing on our shores. Same way we got rid of slavery.

[mbperrin]

6. No, revenue to private business is too good using cheap prison labor.

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/lufkin-tx/TBQN4HRBVDPDCKBHT
Texas prison labor drives Lufkin factory out of business
Full story: www.chron.com
The East Texas town of Lufkin was home to one of the biggest manufacturers of tractor-trailer beds in the state until sluggish sales forced the firm, Lufkin Industries, to close its factory earlier this year, displacing 150 workers.

<snip>

As it turns out, Direct Trailer produces its tractor beds with cheap prison labor and subsidies from the state of Texas. The company rents space inside the Michael Unit, a 2,900-bed facility in Tennessee Colony, for $1 a year. The state foots the tab on work force health care, too.

<snip>
The Prison Industry Enhancement, or PIE, initiative has been operating in Texas since 1993 and includes nearly 400 inmates working in five prison plants across the state. Companies applying to operate inside the prisons must have outside-prison operations and must pay wages commensurate with those paid for similar work in the same locality's private sector. (Welders make at least $8 an hour in the area where Direct Trailer operates its prison plant.)

<snip>
Inmates keep about 20 percent of their wages, with the rest going to their dependents, victims, the courts and the state.

[sonias]

7. Yes that's another angle too

A while back you had the prisoners also doing the work of disassembling computer monitors i.e. working doing e-waste recycling. Prisoners were pretty much slave labor.

Real Cost of Prisons 10/19/2006
UNICOR: Report: Texas prisoners working in unsafe conditions

(snip)
AUSTIN ‹ Inmates working for a federal government program recycling electronics are subjected to hazardous working conditions, a report by prisoner advocates and environmental activists alleges.

The inmates work for Federal Prison Industries Inc., a government-owned company employing prisoners to do everything from building office furniture to making clothes. One of the facilities cited is in Texarkana, according to "Toxic Sweatshops," a report released Wednesday to coincide with the opening of E-Scrap, a national electronic waste conference in Austin.

"It's true they're prisoners, but they're also humans," said Barbara Kyle of Computer TakeBack Campaign, which promotes electronic material recycling. "There's no reason their workplace shouldn't be as safe as anyone on the outside. It's a complete double standard to say it's OK to run this operation just like it might run in the Third World."

Recycling electronic waste improperly can leave workers exposed to lead, a neurotoxin, and cadmium, which has been linked to kidney damage, said Robin Schneider, director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment.

Another interesting watchdog blog on Texas Prisons:
Texas Prison Bidness blog
"What happens if you privatize prisons is that you have a large industry with a vested interest in building ever-more prisons." -- Molly Ivins, 2003

Sonia