Marijuana Decriminalized in Austin, TX

As of yesterday (February 24, 2009), I heard weed was decriminalized in Austin, Texas (where I live). As like other states/cities that have passed similiar acts, one will not be arrested for possessing a personal amount of weed. But my question is this: how much is personal? I heard its an eighth in Canada or something but I can't find an amount that's considered "personal" to american judicials

 

In Boulder it is an ounce. Most cities/states have a similar limit.

 

yippie yi yo ki yea partner

 

pfffft in all of ohio, if you're charged with nothing beyond possession, you can have a maximum of 100g and not get more than what amounts to a speeding ticket.


thats if you're lucky and have NOTHING except the possession charge.


100 dollar fine, no criminal record.

 

I was always confused about this, cause cops usually slam a bunch more penalties on top of the original. Thanks for that clarification

 

In MA its an ounce, $100 dollar fine; Maine is similar. You still need to be careful though. For example, in MA 65% of the vote was to decriminalize but even with the new state law local lawmakers who disagreed with the new law tried to enact local laws that would make a fine paid to the city that would be up to a thousand dollars plus the state fee of 100 dollars. In addition to that new fees if you were unable to pay the money due its a criminal violation, so you eventually will be arrested for marijuana. Know your local laws for highest safety. For example, my town had no problem but my neighboring town tried to enact what what I spoke of prior. The motion failed but now I know how the cops in that town feel about the situation, so I don't smoke there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoDrjqCfhmM
I just wish more people in the pro pot movement were more.. professional. I think that would help a lot. Check out Mason Tvert on youtube as well.

 

bump

 

so now its safe to walk around Austin with my stash on me? really now?

 

wrong.. i did not find one single news article on such happenings..

 

Correct that, sir, it's 200g! Ha, ussually what everyone moves around with here, they don't do much about it.

 

dude, decriminalization of marijuana is a State law, not a city law...

most states that have decriminalized it allow you to carry 1oz, since posession with intent to sell is still a crime.

 

You're just pissed because you're not in Austin

 

Does anyone have a link to prove it?

 

in denver you can have an ounce of weed on you and a state cop cannot do anything about it but a federal cop can bust you and it says nothing about paraphenelia so they can still bust you for that and it seems weird to me that texas out of all the states is legalizing weed i would think since it is an extremley republican state that there would be no chance for legallizing it

 

Funny thing is, it isn't as extremely republican as you might think.

There are pockets of hardcore liberals in Texas - San Antonio and Austin being examples

 

I just got busted in KS with a 1/2 ounce and my chillum.... $1000 bond.... $2500 fine.... for a 20 year old who works 16 hours a day and can still hardly afford all my bills... this isn't freedom. Things need to change and it isn't the leaders of our country that need to change it, it's us, the citizens. It is unconstitutional, mary jane is my wife and my religion and I have the freedom of choice.... should I start a courthouse shit storm? Do you think I could pull donations out of the pot smoking communities to pay a lawyer to take this to the highest court I can? The court system is the only real way to change the law....

 

I was busted for having less than an eighth in ohio last december and had to go to court and all. I had two options, pay a $100 fine and lose my drivers license for a year (any drug offense results in loss of license) or go through a diversion program. I choose the latter, and it cost a pretty penny ($200) and a couple hours a week for a month. Also, if I hadn't choose the diversion program the offense would have remained on my criminal record (which I looked up and saw for myself), but the program got that sealed about two months after I finished it.
This may have been the county/city I was in, but it's defiantly not just a speeding ticket equivalent. I asked multiple lawyers at the court house and they all said the same thing.
One other thing worth noting though, my offense was "drug abuse - marijuana". I was however just in possession and I didn't have any paraphernalia (my friend however did, and had two counts of paraphernalia as well). Maybe drug abuse and possession are interchangeable and they issue whatever they feel like. There were also a handful of other people at court with the same charge, along with me and my two friends. Also, worth nothing, I cooperated, was honest, and didn't give them any problems what so ever. They still fucked me over.

 

Also, I'd say about half of the 30 or so people in my diversion program were there for the same thing.

 

Here is the NORML site that lists Ohio State law, and you can easily access all other states. Weird how paraphernalia is so much and I know in my town you are often more likely to get just the paraphernalia charge.

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4557

I don't know why it does not completely line up with Andrew's experience.

 

From what it says, you should not have lost your license. I don't know. The law (good, expensive lawyers aside) holds all the cards anyway.

For all drug convictions, the offender's driver's license is also suspended for a period of 6 months - 5 years. This does not apply to minor misdemeanor violations for marijuana possession. Professional licenses are also suspended.