Freedom Act Lubbock initiated the petition to decriminalize marijuana on Aug. 18. Photo by Maddy Vidales.
By Maddy Vidales
Residents sparked a petition in August about Lubbock’s current marijuana laws.
Freedom Act Lubbock, initiated by Lubbock Compact, seeks to pass a petition to decriminalize the personal use of marijuana in Lubbock.
“The heart of the ordinance is just to keep people out of jail,” Lubbock Compact Communications Chair Adam Hernandez said. “It’s not to legalize it fully here in the city. This is just if somebody already has it, they won’t go to jail for it.”
If passed, individuals with four ounces or less or paraphernalia like a grinder, pipe, or bong evade jail time.
Additionally, the petition also calls for prohibiting law enforcement from using “the odor of marijuana or hemp” as a basis for establishing probable cause for probable cause for any search or seizure, except in “the limited circumstances of a police investigation.”
Freedom Act Lubbock Executive Chair Kim Gonzalez encourages attendees at the Lively Society Vintage Popup to sign the petition Sept. 30, 2023. Photo by Maddy Vidales.
To enact this, the petition must collect enough signatures from eligible Lubbock voters to match one-quarter of the 19,197 people who voted in the last mayor’s election, 4,800 in this case, before Oct. 18. Hernandez said the group plans to present the petition to Lubbock City Council with around 10,000 total signatures.
Once presented, council members vote to decriminalize marijuana or reject the ordinance. In the event the petition is rejected, something Hernandez said he anticipates, it is eligible to be placed on the 2024 ballot for Lubbock residents to vote on.
This civic initiative previously occurred in Lubbock in 2009 and 2021. In 2009, Lubbock citizens ended the prohibition of alcohol with the expansion of packaged alcohol sales and mixed-drink sales in restaurants.
The same petition process passed an anti-abortion ordinance proclaiming Lubbock as a sanctuary for the unborn in 2021, though that initiative gathered fewer than 5,800 signatures. The City of Lubbock’s charter allows 60 days for collecting signatures for any petition initiative.
Mobilizing the petition to decriminalize marijuana are volunteers like Raenee Mata, Ida Perez and Ariya Lopez. Each echoed similar goals that motivated their contributions to the Freedom Act.
Between keeping loved ones using marijuana out of jail and reallocating funds used to prosecute cannabis users, Lopez said focusing on community impact sits at the heart of her contributions.
“There’s more important things we need to focus on instead of worrying about petty marijuana,” Lopez said. “We need to focus on getting our streets cleaned up and getting our community back where it needs to be.”
For Mata, addressing an influx of interested individuals approaching the petition signing table felt similar to providing rapid COVID-19 testing.
“I felt like we were doing COVID tests,” Mata said. “There were lines everywhere and everyone just wants to get it passed because [people] are getting in trouble for just a roach or a joint. You know, nothing major.”
As of Oct. 11, the petition has approximately 8,800 signatures, according to a press release from Lubbock Compact.
Despite the community’s support thus far, the Freedom Act’s efforts don’t occur without criticism.
Adam Hernandez and Cheryl Ortiz encourage a student to sign the petition outside the Student Union Building Oct. 3, 2023. Photo by Maddy Vidales.
Some volunteers encounter individuals who verbalize their opposition to the petition. Through having conversations with these individuals, Perez said marijuana decriminalization in Lubbock is still widely misunderstood.
“They don’t understand why we’re doing it,” Perez said. “They think we’re all drug addicts and we just want it to be legal, but it’s not that. It’s really [about] getting Lubbock back where it needs to be.”
Common arguments against the petition derive from stigmas about marijuana use, Hernandez said.
Moreover, opening up the destigmatizing conversation sometimes changed the minds of those previously opposed to signing the petition.
When individuals opposed to signing the petition were asked if loved ones they know use marijuana should receive jail time, the majority said no, Hernandez said.
Stigmas aside, a report conducted by Ground Game Texas demonstrated racial disparities in marijuana arrests made in Lubbock over five years.
Black and Latino residents comprised 80% of arrests and citations for possession while only making up 45% of Lubbock’s population. White residents comprised 21.6% of arrests and citations despite making up 50.1% of Lubbock’s population, according to the report.
Graphic by Maddy Vidales.
“Regardless of how you personally feel about the substance or whether you use it, it’s not about that,” Hernandez said. “It’s about [whether] you think people should go to jail for it.”
Freedom Act Lubbock has until Oct. 18 to collect additional signatures. Freedom Act Lubbock’s “Last Chance Signing Party” will be held on Oct. 14 at Mano Negra Brewing Co., located at 2610 Salem Ave., from 4-8 p.m.
For more information about the Freedom Act initiative, event locations or to sign the petition, visit the Freedom Act Lubbock website.
About Reece Nations
