Dallas police made significantly fewer arrests for low-level marijuana possession between the time voters took action in November and when the city asked a judge earlier this month to block officers from upholding the voter-approved ban on such infractions.
On Nov. 5, Dallas voters approved Proposition R, a charter amendment that limits the police department from arresting people solely for possessing less than 4 ounces of marijuana, but the practice continued until Nov. 19, when then-interim police Chief Michael Igo ordered the voter initiative to be enforced.
Since then, eight people have been arrested on charges that included misdemeanor marijuana possession through the end of June. In all of those arrests, each person also faced either violent felony accusations like aggravated assault on a public servant or felony drug-related charges like manufacturing or delivering a controlled substance, which were allowed by the proposition.
In comparison, 42 people were arrested by Dallas police on the same charge from Nov. 1 to Nov. 18 alone. Nearly 30 of those arrests occurred after the Nov. 5 election, which changed the Dallas city charter, but before Igo’s order was issued. Marijuana possession was the sole charge behind seven of the arrests, according to police records.
Political Points
The proposition limited Dallas’ enforcement of crimes related to weed, namely banning officers from arresting or citing people for Class A or B misdemeanor marijuana possession unless it’s part of a violent felony or serious drug crime investigation. The misdemeanors cover possession of up to four ounces of marijuana.
Catina Voellinger, Ground Game Texas executive director, said the results of the November election were “a clear mandate to end low-level marijuana enforcement,” and believes the city has a legal and moral obligation to follow through.
“It’s unacceptable that the will of those voters is being disregarded while Ken Paxton’s suit against the city makes its way through the courts,” she said. “The move wastes taxpayer dollars to fight a policy that works and saves money, all while people in Dallas are struggling to stay housed, keep the lights on, and care for their families.”
The police data appears to show the charter amendment was working as many Proposition R supporters said they hoped: decriminalizing low-level marijuana possession and curbing the number of arrests. But recreational marijuana is still illegal in Texas, and other cities around the state have either refused to enforce similar voter-approved bans for low amounts of weed or faced legal challenges from Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has declared the restrictions illegal.
The Dallas Police Department declined to comment when asked by The Dallas Morning News about enforcing Proposition R, citing an ongoing lawsuit from Paxton challenging the charter amendment. Although a Dallas County district judge denied Paxton’s request for a temporary injunction in February to stop Dallas from limiting enforcement, city attorneys have since requested that the judge reverse this decision and approve the injunction to prevent police from enforcing Proposition R while the lawsuit is still pending.
The temporary injunction was approved by a judge on July 10, court records show. A nonjury trial is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 11.
“It’s very disappointing and feels like betrayal,” said Tristeza Ordex, 42, of Oak Cliff. She was the Dallas campaign manager for Ground Game Texas for the proposition. Ground Game Texas is an Austin-based nonprofit that backed Proposition R as well as similar initiatives around the state. The group gathered at least 20,000 signatures from valid Dallas voters to qualify Proposition R for the November ballot.
“It doesn’t make us any safer, we’ve known about the racial disparities in arrests for years, and at a time when our communities are already living under a heightened state of alert, navigating chaos, fearmongering and attacks at the state and federal level, Dallas residents don’t need another reason to fear the police,” said Ordex, who voted for Proposition R last fall along with her mother, sister and son.
Related:A Catch-22: Dallas could face legal action if it does — or doesn’t — decriminalize weed
Along with the ban on arrests and citations solely for having less than four ounces of marijuana, the charter amendment also orders the city to make Class A and Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession the lowest priority for the Dallas Police Department and prevents the city from using its resources to test for THC, except when it’s necessary for public safety or investigating felony crimes.
The enforcement of marijuana laws in Dallas has long been criticized for its racial disparities, a concern that Proposition R sought to address. Black residents in Dallas have routinely been overrepresented in low-level marijuana arrests in the city. The racial disparities in these types of arrests were cited by many as a key reason to support the ban.
Recent data shows the disparities have persisted. Police arrested 357 people between June 2024 and June 2025 for possessing less than four ounces of marijuana. Of that tally, 80% or 284 of the people arrested were Black, according to the police data. Black residents make up a quarter of Dallas’ 1.3 million population.
Of the 44 people arrested from November through the end of May, all but 10 of the arrests were of Black people, according to police data.
In the wake of a 2021 report that highlighted the disproportionate arrests, then-Chief Eddie García ordered officers to make fewer arrests of people found with two ounces or less of marijuana. While those arrests dropped, data showed Black people continued to be arrested on the charge more than any other group.
Voters opted in November 2024 to raise the bar for not making arrests, from two ounces to four ounces of marijuana. García told City Council members last year he disagreed with the idea of four ounces of marijuana being considered a small amount and he believed that amount was “definitely worth our time to investigate.”
Also referred to as the Dallas Freedom Act, the charter amendment was approved by 66% of voters on Nov. 5 and made Dallas the largest city in Texas to decriminalize small amounts of weed. Two weeks later, the City Council directed Dallas to uphold the charter amendment and Igo issued a memo to all Dallas police staff members instructing them to follow the charter change.
Related:Willie Nelson endorses marijuana decriminalization in Dallas
Paxton then filed a lawsuit against city officials, arguing the proposition violated the Texas Constitution and that Dallas can’t override Texas drug laws or stop police from enforcing them.
Ordex is a retired U.S. Marine Corps veteran who said the drug has helped her address post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Marijuana has been essential in helping me manage my mental health and providing stability that positively impacted my life and my family,” Ordex said. “It’s very frustrating that the city of Dallas is choosing to go against this.”
Possessing less than 2 ounces of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor, with penalties including up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. Having between 2 and 4 ounces is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. However, medical marijuana is legal under a state program, and hemp, from which CBD is derived, is approved by both state and federal authorities.
Gov. Greg Abbott last month vetoed a bill that aimed to ban gummies, vapes and other consumables containing THC statewide.
Supporters of banning arrests for low-level marijuana possession say arrests disproportionately affect Black residents in Dallas.
Dallas’ Office of Community Police Oversight issued a report in 2021 that found 85% of the police department’s more than 2,600 marijuana-related arrests between July 2017 and June 2020 were for possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana, and Black people made up about 57% of the people arrested.
That report led to García crafting a 2021 policy that directed officers to make fewer arrests of people found with small amounts of marijuana and issue citations instead. He said at the time that he did not want to criminalize small amounts meant for personal use.
A follow-up report released in 2023 found that although arrests for possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana between 2018 and 2022 had significantly decreased, Black people still made up 52% of the arrests in 2021 and 69% in 2022.
According to Dallas police data, officers made 1,014 arrests in 2023 for possession of marijuana that was four ounces or less. Nearly 79% — 797 — of the people arrested were Black. The department reported nearly 800 arrests for the same offense from Jan. 1, 2024, to Nov. 1, 2024, and around the same percentage of people, 78% or 623, were Black.
Paxton had also sued other Texas cities with similar voter-approved mandates: Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen and San Marcos. Judges overturned his lawsuits against Austin and San Marcos, but Paxton challenged the rulings. In both cases, the Fifteenth Court of Appeals in April reversed lower courts’ denials of the state’s request for temporary injunctions and ordered those courts in each case to enter a temporary injunction.
Dallas attorneys cited the appeals court rulings in the Austin and San Marcos cases as reasons in a July 8 joint motion with state attorneys to ask for the judge to block enforcement of Proposition R.
“After much consideration and in an effort to conserve judicial resources in the Fifteenth Court of Appeals and in this court, the parties agreed to jointly move this court to enter an agreed temporary injunction order,” the joint motion to amend the agreed temporary injunction order said.
When Judge Dale Tillery approved the temporary injunction request in February, he ruled that Paxton failed to prove Dallas officials overstepped their authority by implementing the ban and noted that while state law requires full enforcement of drug laws, it doesn’t address voter-approved propositions.
Meanwhile, some cities like Lockhart and Bastrop have chosen not to uphold voter-approved decriminalization measures. The Denton City Council in May voted to repeal its low-level marijuana decriminalization ordinance. The city hadn’t been enforcing it despite voter approval about three years earlier.
Dallas City Council member Chad West, who was one of four council members who expressed public support last summer for a Dallas marijuana decriminalization charter amendment, said he doesn’t back the city supporting a temporary ban on enforcing Proposition R.
“Ken Paxton isn’t our boss,” West said. “The 1.3 million residents of Dallas are.”