Texas is home to some of the most passionate marijuana activists I have ever seen. It is always bittersweet for me though because Texas is not an easy place to achieve marijuana reform. In most states that have reformed its marijuana laws, there is a citizen initiative process where citizens can gather signatures and put things to a vote on the next election assuming the required amount of verified signatures are gathered. Texas does not have an initiative process. So the only way to reform Texas’ harsh marijuana laws are via Texas’ Legislature. That’s not an easy thing to do, but going back to those passionate activists, if anyone can do it, it’s Texas activists.
There is a big push right now for medical marijuana reform in Texas. According to poll results that were released yesterday, there is enormous support for that type of reform in Texas. Per KCEN TV:
The Texas Tegna Poll indicates 71 percent of the state’s voters would support expanding medical marijuana treatments for patients suffering other health problems. Another 19 percent oppose the idea, while 11 percent aren’t sure.
“The fact that even Republicans, by a margin of almost 71 percent, support marijuana uses for medicinal health reasons I think suggests that this is where you’re beginning to see the trend,” said Bob Stein, KHOU’s political analyst.
While there is huge support for medical marijuana reform in Texas, the same poll found that Texans are not quite ready to legalize recreational marijuana. The poll found just 41% support for full marijuana legalization, while 49% were directly opposed. That’s a good chunk of undecided respondents though, and if all of those people that are sitting on the fence were educated about the truth behind marijuana prohibition, I think they would be swayed into getting on the right side of history. And who knows, they may bring some of the 49% with them.
