HOUSTON PUBLIC OUTRAGE OVER MISDEMEANOR MARIJUANA ARRESTS
- Michael Thervil
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Written by Michael Thervil
[MARIJUANA HOUSTON TEXAS MISDEMEANOR ARREST] With Houston, Texas being the fourth largest city in America with over 2.4 million residents and over 640 square miles and expanding, in conjunction with crimes related to murder (323 cases), rape (1,839 cases), robbery (6,553 cases), and assault (19,055 cases) in that order appear to be the biggest offensives that the Houston Police Department are currently battling. Despite this fact and against the collective wishes of the vast number of Houston residents, possession of marijuana is now added to the laundry list of criminal offenses the Houston Police Department now must address.
With Harris County Jail currently operating over its official state approved capacity of 9,500 inmates, cases for simple marijuana possession appear to be significantly adding to that number. Both law enforcement and housing residents have displayed concern not only for the lack of severity concerning marijuana possession, but also for the high number of Harris County Jail Inmates in which 82 inmates have died while in custody since 2022. Both of these factors in conjunction with what the future increase in number of those arrested for marijuana possession means for the already overcrowded Harris County jail population. It should be noted that marijuana possession cases have increased in Houston by 1,200% within the last two months.
According to retired Harris County Deputy Oscar Gonzales former position when it comes to enforcing laws against marijuana possession and use “the cat is already out the bag” since possession in small amounts has been largely ignored by law enforcement for so long. He also stated that “you can ask any law enforcement officer that the City of Houston has bigger problems than arresting people for marijuana use and possession”. What he describes as “the lesser of two evils” marijuana use and possession, even though it is a crime in itself, is not a crime that demands the immediate attention of law enforcement. Instead, the former Harris County Deputy took the position that “instead of arresting for marijuana possession, Houston should consider regulating the marijuana industry for taxable gain to fund city services and projects for the embitterment of Houstonians." From his perspective the decriminalization of marijuana possession could serve as a way to decrease the initiative of drug-traffickers to make a profit.
Retired Deputy Oscar Gonzales went on to state that “we have plenty of known killers walking on the streets, there are at least 900 killers walking free on bond; and out of those 900 killers walking around on the street free on bond at least 200 to 300 of them have been accused of capital murder”. It should be known that in the state of Texas the possession of four ounces of marijuana could yield someone up to a year in jail and/or $4,000 in fines. In an effort to alleviate the overcrowding in Harris County Jail because of the high number of people that have been arrested for marijuana possession, the Harris County District Attorney has implemented 90-day community service programs described as a "a robust marijuana diversion program” as a way to off-set the rise in marijuana-related arrest.
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