Last week, Sharen Wilson delivered a message to people arrested or cited in Tarrant County for possession of 2 ounces or less of marijuana: 鈥淚f I can just get three consecutive months of sobriety,鈥� Wilson said, "I鈥檒l dismiss that case."
To get the charges dropped, all a person needs to do is pass three drug tests in three months to prove they鈥檙e staying sober. Dropping the charges in exchange for a sober stint is worth it, the prosecutor said, because the goal is rehabilitation of people 鈥渉ooked on marijuana.鈥�
鈥淣inety days of sobriety is long enough to get it out of your system and start thinking clearly,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat are your goals when you have not been smoking marijuana for your entire life daily?鈥�
A Shifting Approach
It鈥檚 not a new policy, but in the year and a half it鈥檚 been policy in her office, only a few dozen people have gotten their charges dropped, Wilson said. That鈥檚 in a county where thousands of people are charged with this Class B misdemeanor, so Wilson wants to drum up awareness.
Possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana is the lowest-level drug possession offense under Texas law, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. The Tarrant County District Attorney鈥檚 office charged more people with it than any other offense in 2019.
鈥淭his seems like a program that鈥檚 easy for everybody,鈥� Wilson said.
Wilson was talking up the marijuana dismissal policy just weeks after announcing a new policy, one for more serious drug possession cases but with the same basic idea: Get clean, and get your charges dropped.
It鈥檚 called the , and it鈥檚 for people 25 and older who have no criminal record. Fifteen drug crimes qualify, from Class A marijuana possession (that鈥檚 2 to 4 ounces of pot) to possession of up to 4 grams of ecstasy, LSD, amphetamines or THC in the form of edibles, vape pens, cigars, waxes or oils.
If approved for the program, defendants agree to stay sober and out of trouble for six months, take a class, and pay a $300 fee in order to get their case dismissed and record expunged.
A Larger Trend
Across Texas, prosecutors in big urban counties have been embracing approaches to marijuana and other drug crimes intended to divert people away from jail and prison.
In , first-time misdemeanor marijuana cases are dismissed automatically. In , most people caught with small amounts of marijuana are given a ticket and can get the case dropped if they take a 4-hour class, avoiding an arrest record. In , people caught with less than an ounce of pot aren鈥檛 charged with a crime at all.
Some police departments in Texas are also away from arresting people caught with small amounts of marijuana and moving toward issuing citations instead.
Heather Fazio, from the pro-legalization group Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, said Wilson鈥檚 policies stopped short of some other district attorneys, but counts Wilson as part of a larger trend toward a re-evaluation of American 鈥� and Texan 鈥� drug policy.
鈥淲e鈥檙e recognizing that these laws aren鈥檛 working,鈥� Fazio said. 鈥淭hey aren鈥檛 working for law enforcement. They aren鈥檛 working for prosecutors, they aren鈥檛 working for the tens of thousands of people across our state who are arrested annually.鈥�
Texans are to loosening marijuana laws, and Fazio is hopeful the Texas Legislature will seriously consider legalizing the drug. If pot is legal, it can be taxed, and that would much-needed revenue at a time when the state鈥檚 facing a budget deficit, Fazio suggests.
That鈥檚 all beyond the authority of a district attorney, Wilson said. She was elected to enforce the state鈥檚 laws, she likes to say, and so she鈥檒l continue to file charges for people arrested in possession of marijuana or other drugs as long as possessing them is illegal.
鈥淏ut I do, as a prosecutor, have the discretion about what the proper sentence should be,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淥ne of the goals of the criminal justice system, right there in the penal code, is the rehabilitation of the offender. And for me, after 24 years as a criminal judge and as a DA, there is no better first step to rehabilitation than sobriety.鈥�
That is an outdated view of addiction, said Katharine Harris, who researches drug policy at Rice University鈥檚 Baker Institute for Public Policy. Reducing drug use doesn鈥檛 necessarily increase public safety, she said, and being arrested for drug possession is not an effective measure of a substance abuse disorder.
鈥淵ou are more likely to be arrested for marijuana if you are poor or if you are Black and Latino. And if you look at the data on drug use, there are not differences in drug use by race or ethnicity,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淭he primary factor there is not the severity of the drug use, but has much more to do with where you are, where the police are, and whether you are Black or brown.鈥�
And, more fundamentally, law enforcement is not an effective way to address drug addiction; it should be addressed as a health issue. Instead, she argues, drug treatment, counseling, and other social services that support a healthy and productive life would be a more effective use of taxpayer dollars and rehabilitating people who are addicted to drugs.
A Mixed Response
Defense attorneys in Tarrant County expressed optimism about better alternatives to jail or other punitive approaches to drug possession. But they were mixed about the specifics on the policies.
, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, said he鈥檚 concerned that, as a condition of getting into the Deferred Prosecution Initiative, a defendant has to waive the right to get a lab to test the drugs they鈥檙e charged with possessing.
鈥淚t sounds great, on one hand, but the right that you鈥檙e giving up to not test the drugs is a very important right that every defense attorney has to consider,鈥� Varghese said.
It鈥檚 especially important, Varghese argued, because of legal changes to state law regarding cannabis products last year, when Texas legalized hemp and hemp products while leaving marijuana and its derivatives illegal. Hemp and marijuana come from the same cannabis plant, so now, prosecutors have to actually prove that the marijuana in marijuana possession cases is, indeed, marijuana.
The legal change made marijuana-related prosecutions more complicated and costly, and opened up a line of attack for defense attorneys. The lab testing procedures to prove marijuana or its derivatives are, indeed, marijuana are still unsettled science, Varghese said, making it risky to sign away a client鈥檚 right to get the drugs tested.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to end up with a situation where your person didn鈥檛 get clean as expected, and two months into the program, they get kicked out, and now you鈥檝e given up the right to test the substance that they purportedly possessed,鈥� Varghese said.
MarQuetta Clayton, a Fort Worth defense attorney said the upside of the program is that people can walk away with a clean record if they do complete the program, avoiding an arrest record and a conviction that can be a barrier to finding a job and other life opportunities.
鈥淭he expunction part is my number one on these kinds of programs, because it鈥檚 the criminal history that traps a person for the rest of their lives,鈥� Clayton said.
Both Varghese and Clayton say they鈥檙e very happy that District Attorney Wilson is working to get the message out about the marijuana dismissal policy, because until now, it鈥檚 been hit or miss trying to get a deal to settle those cases. Clayton said that, in her experience, some of the prosecutors in Wilson鈥檚 office were willing to drop a Class B marijuana possession charge for a few months of sobriety, but others would play hardball. Now, she hopes they鈥檒l all work from the same playbook.
鈥淚 would just hope that that turns out to be something across the board for the DA鈥檚 office, not just hit or miss based on which prosecutor you sit down in front of,鈥� Clayton said.
Got a tip? Christopher Connelly is 四虎影院's One Crisis Away Reporter, exploring life on the financial edge. Email Christopher at .You can follow Christopher on Twitter .
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