Pubdate: Sun, 05 Oct 2014
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: Dane Schiller
Cited: http://drugtruth.net/

HIGH INTEREST IN WHETHER TEXAS LEGALIZES POT

The call to legalize pot steadily emanates from the decaying
74-year-old home in Montrose.

A gray-haired, sharp-voiced Dean Becker settles in behind a microphone
there each Sunday night at the studios of KPFT public radio to spread
his mantra: End the Drug War.

Becker and those of a like mind about legalizing marijuana say they
are getting some traction nowadays.

With recreational use of pot now legal in Colorado and Washington -
and public opinion polls showing growing nationwide support for such
measures - speculation is rampant that even in law-and-order Texas, it
is not a question of if, but when, legalization will happen.

"Those who get on the right side of this will be seen as heroes,"
contends Becker, who has interviewed everyone from pot activist Willie
Nelson to Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland. "Those who don't
will be seen as goats."

Political consultant Bill Miller said it is just a matter of time but
cautions Texas is not in a hurry.

"Texas will probably be one of the last frontiers, because right now
we are just a super conservative state," Miller said. "We are red,
red."

If legislation is filed in the next session, it probably won't go
anywhere, he said.

Not even fellow large state California, with a reputation for being
far more liberal, has been able to get it done. But some blocks are
falling into place here.

Uniting investors

What is being billed as the "First Marijuana Investment Conference"
started Sunday and wraps up Monday at the Westin Houston hotel in
Memorial City. Tickets for the final day are $1,000 at the door.

The goal is to unite wealthy potential investors with a host of
marijuana-related companies doing legal business in various parts of
the United States, organizers say.

"This is not a push to necessarily change the views in Texas," said
Douglas Leighton whose company, Dutchess Capital, is underwriting the
event. "These are companies based outside looking for investor dollars."

The businesses are involved in everything from vaporizers to
hydroponics to a cannabis delivery service and social-media platform.
Some of them delve into not just the medical use of marijuana but
legal recreational use by adults, Leighton said.

Miller, the political consultant, said framing discussion about pot in
business terms would draw more support from the Legislature than
making it a debate over the right to get high.

"Nothing gets the attention of the Legislature faster than business
opportunities," he said. "That is how you get the ball rolling."

Texas has to take a slower road to marijuana legalization than
Colorado or Washington, where voters were able to force a referendum
merely by gathering enough signatures via a citizen initiative. The
same was true for Oregon and Alaska, where the matter was forced on to
November ballots.

In Texas, only the Legislature can make such a decision.

Rep. Harold Dutton Jr., a Houston Democrat, has repeatedly introduced
legislation that would knock possession of an ounce or less of
marijuana down to the status of a traffic ticket and require an
education course.

Still, Dutton said he is not sure he'd be ready to support the level
of legalization in Colorado.

"From where we are to where that is is a long jump," he said. "The
Legislature rarely makes those kind of leaps."

Public opinion

William Martin, director of the drug program at Rice University's
Baker Institute on Public Policy, said public opinion is tipping in
favor of legalization.

"In keeping with national sentiment, slightly over half of Texans
favor legalizing cannabis for recreational purposes and approximately
two-thirds believe it should be legal for medicinal purposes," he
said, citing multiple polls. "Still, a century of anti-pot propaganda
poses a stiff challenge to legalization for either purpose."

Pro-pot people elsewhere are looking at Texas.

Johnny Green, an Oregon activist who runs theweedblog.com, said among
the most common inquiries he gets are about the prospects for Texas
legalizing marijuana.

"It's a logical question, considering how many people get arrested for
marijuana in Texas, and how harsh their marijuana laws are," he writes.

He advises followers who want change to either pressure the
Legislature or wait for federal reform.

Crackdown on drugs

The battlefield over legalization is far larger in Texas than other
states not just because of the number of people who live here but the
massive role the state has played in cracking down on illegal drug
trafficking and border security.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's Houston Division reports that
240,816 pounds of marijuana were seized last year in its territory,
which stretches from here to the South Texas-Mexico border and
includes San Antonio and Austin.

Javier Pena, who recently retired as the head of the Drug Enforcement
Administration's Houston Division, has said he does not support
legalization.

"We see the effects it has on people. I'm against legalization," he
said. "Some states aren't, and that is a political fight. Will Texas
ever? I hope not."

Becker, the 65-year-old Houston radio show host, said the movement to
legalize marijuana has turned such a big corner that he'll see it in
Texas within his lifetime. He envisions the day he smokes a joint in
front of the Harris County Courthouse.

"It is just on the horizon," Becker said. "Everybody knows it."
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MAP posted-by: Matt