Texas Could Be Getting Closer to Legalizing Marijuana

There is some speculation that the latest FBI crime statistics will encourage Texas to seriously consider legalizing marijuana.

According to Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project, millions of dollars are essentially being thrown away by law enforcement agencies busting casual smokers. “There is no logical reason why law enforcement officials should be spending their time arresting and prosecuting adults simply for possessing a product that is objectively less harmful than alcohol,” he said.

Tvert says that the latest crime statistics indicate that African Americans are arrested a lot more than whites for possessing marijuana. “It is the 15th highest arrest rate and right now Black Americans are being arrested at more than twice the rate as White,” he said. “Communities of color are really facing the most enforcement despite the fact that they use marijuana at the same rate as whites.”

Interesting, it reportedly costs the American taxpayer almost $42 billion each year by keeping marijuana illegal, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. Tvert says that with that amount of money being spent on marijuana prohibition, it is obvious that law enforcement agencies are not prioritizing when it comes to fighting crime.

“We are spending our law enforcement resources arresting adults for marijuana, when we could be using those resources to address serious crime,” he said.

What do you think - should marijuana be legalized in the state of Texas?