Texas attorney general Ken Paxton sued the city of Dallas on Thursday in an attempt to prevent the city from decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana after voters approved a ballot measure to do so.
Sixty-seven percent of Dallas voters supported Proposition R, a measure to prohibit city police from arresting people found with less than 4 ounces of marijuana and would prevent officers from using the smell of marijuana as probable cause for any searches or seizures.
“Cities cannot pick and choose which State laws they follow,” Paxton said in a statement. “The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them. This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”
Paxton previously sued several other Texas cities that passed similar measures, including Austin, Denton, San Marcos, Elgin and Killeen. However, the state AG’s legal challenges have done little to keep the cities from enforcing their voter-approved laws. A judge overturned Paxton’s lawsuits against Austin and San Marcos.
Anticipating that Paxton would challenge the measure, Dallas city councilmember Cara Mendelsohn proposed a motion to add a clause to the new law that would stop it from taking effect until the state legalized recreational marijuana – though that is not a movement that has picked up much steam in the conservative state. However, the 15-person council rejected the motion.
“This is such a waste of your tax dollars. 4oz of marijuana is illegal in TX & USA,” Mendelsohn wrote in a post on X. Now @KenPaxtonTX will have to waste his time suing @CityofDallas and the city will waste tax dollars defending a losing case. We’ve put ourselves & the @DallasPD in a terrible position to violate our oath of office to uphold the law.”
After the city council certified the ballot measure vote, interim Dallas Police Chief Michael Igo issued a memo to all Dallas officers saying, “Effective immediately, Dallas police officers will not enforce possession of marijuana, four ounces or less, or consider the odor of marijuana as probable cause for search and seizure, except as a part of a violent felony or felony narcotics arrest.”