Denton voters decided Tuesday by a margin of 71% to 29% to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession in the city.
Proposition B stops smell tests, ends THC testing, and gets rid of citations and arrests for carrying less than 4 ounces of pot.
Denton was one of five Texas cities that voted Tuesday to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession. Voters passed similar measures in San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin, and Harker Heights.
“Decriminalization seems like a much less drastic step than the actual legalization,” University of North Texas political science professor Kimi King said. “But just because you see something decriminalized does not suddenly mean that all the ugly things go away. It really depends on how it gets enforced in the different jurisdictions.”
The marijuana issue has been a contentious one in Denton for months -- even years. The city council shot down a similar measure in the past. To get it on the ballot this time around, more than 3,000 people signed a petition drawn up by the group Decriminalize Denton.
But Denton City Council member Jesse Davis said he doesn't think leaving the matter to voters was the right choice.
"What happened was our city council reviewed the ordinance that's proposed and in Denton, the citizens or the city council can pass an ordinance, there are certain ordinances that citizens can't pass by referendum," he said.
"We rely on our police in our judicial process to have some discretion with those cases," Davis said on KRLD's podcast North Texas Wants to Know. "That's not enough for some folks, they know that we don't have the authority to actually change the status of marijuana in Texas, they know we don't have the legal authority to actually decriminalized marijuana."
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