Naked City
Lege Takes Up Pot Smoking
By Jordan Smith, Fri., April 18, 2003
While keeping small-time drug offenders out of jail would certainly save money in the criminal-justice system, Dutton's bill, according to the Legislative Budget Board's fiscal note, could cost Texas nearly $164 million per year in federal highway funds if the driver-license provision remains in place. A committee substitute bill that would remove that provision was offered by committee chair Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, but was later withdrawn. Still, the measure got support from NORML, LULAC, the NAACP National Voter Fund, and others. Predictably, prosecutors from both Harris and Dallas counties signed on as opposing the bill, though neither of their representatives actually testified.
Mark Stepnowski, the ex-Dallas Cowboys player who is now president of Texas NORML, pointed out that in 2001 alone, police made 47,000 simple-possession arrests statewide -- nearly one every 11 minutes and 90% of the state's total marijuana-related arrests. Making simple possession a citation that could be adjudicated in municipal court would save taxpayer money, he said. Dutton told the committee that he understands members might "measure the political cost" of voting for such a measure, "but measure [instead] where we might've spent this money," he said, and "how we could make better use of taxpayer money."
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