Residents in the city of Denton have the opportunity to vote on a referendum this upcoming election to decriminalize marijuana in the city’s jurisdiction. However, the proposal on the ballot isn’t as blunt as it seems.

Proposition B would not legalize marijuana, but rather adopt an ordinance into the city’s charter that discourages arrests and citations and prohibits city funds from being used to test substances for low-level charges.

The referendum comes just weeks after President Joe Biden pardoned federal marijuana possession charges and at the same time as five different states vote to legalize the drug recreationally this election.

“All we’re trying to do is protect our residents while we wait for the state to get its act together,” said board member and an elector with Decriminalize Denton, Nick Stevens.

The proposition, if approved, would amend the city code to end citations and arrests for misdemeanor possession of marijuana, with the exception of offenses that are part of felony narcotics or violent felony investigations.

The ordinance doesn’t stop a police officer from confiscating suspected marijuana, but it does stipulate they should not arrest people for misdemeanor offenses. However, state officers could make arrests in Denton jurisdiction and it does not make state law obsolete for city officers.

Texas law already grants police officers the discretion whether to arrest low-level offenders or issue a citation and release. The Denton Record Chronicle reported former Denton Police Chief Frank Dixon unofficially aligned with the latter policy.

Dixon stepped down from his position earlier this year to accept the assistant city manager position, and was replaced by Doug Shoemaker October 3.

Shoemaker did not respond to a request for a comment on if he will adopt a similar stance to the old chief.

The ordinance also prohibits a “smell test” to be a probable cause for search or seizure, except for felony investigations.

Additionally, city funds would not be used to test a substance to be identified as marijuana except for in cases of felony level investigations.

Texas legalized hemp, but not marijuana in 2019, resulting in the need to test substances before prosecuting charges.

Jamie Beck, first assistant criminal district attorney for Denton County, said testing substances is a costly effort and led to a drop in marijuana cases the DA’s office prosecuted. She added the DA will continue to prosecute marijuana charges brought to the office.

“Will this proposition make our marijuana cases decline in the city of Denton? I would imagine it would, but it doesn’t affect the overall County and it doesn’t affect our office,” she said.

Malia Brink, senior policy attorney at SMU law school’s Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center, said the clearest impact of the ordinance would be to bar prosecution for misdemeanor possession in the City’s municipal court.

“But it would also send a powerful message from the community to all officials - whether formally bound by the Ordinance or not - that criminal prosecution of marijuana possession is not a priority,” she said in a written statement.

The ordinance would not apply to Texas Women’s University and the University of North Texas jurisdictions, The Denton Record Chronicle reported.

Stevens described the ordinance as a way to address a larger racial justice, medical and economic issue.

“Black and brown residents are disproportionately punished under the law and we’re trying to remediate that crisis,” he said.

A 2020 ACLU report showed Black people were nearly three times more likely than white people to be arrested in Texas for marijuana possession.

Stevens advocated for marijuana use for veterans and others suffering from PTSD or chronic pain as a safer alternative to alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs. He finally outlined the issue as economic because while Texans can be fined for possessing marijuana, it is legal recreationally in 19 states.

He emphasized Decriminalize Denton and the ordinance is supported by members of both political parties.

“This is one thing that most Texans agree on,” he said. “We’re trying to prove that when Texans can unite over popular issues, that’s better for our state.”

A recent poll from The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler found 83% of Texans (both Democrats and Republicans) support legalizing medical marijuana in the state. Sixty percent supported legalizing the drug for recreational use.

City councilmember Jesse Davis opposed the adoption of the ordinance saying it could give people the “wrong ideas in dangerous ways.”

“You got to remember, it’s still an illegal product,” he said.

His main concern was the ordinance would result in miscommunication to ill-informed citizens who would believe marijuana and THC products to be legal in Denton and at its college campuses, where the ordinance doesn’t apply.

Davis was also concerned an increase in moving the drug into the city would accompany the referendum’s passage.

“We’re gonna have an increase in the illicit trade,” he said. “The trafficking of marijuana, it’s just gonna go up, and that’s going to result in more violent crime.”

The Dallas Police Department stopped making arrests for small amounts of marijuana (less than 2 ounces) in 2021, after a report found the department arrested unproportionable numbers of people of color for offenses.

Additionally, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot’s office stopped prosecuting misdemeanor marijuana charges in January 2019.

The city of Denton passed a similar ordinance in June when its city council voted to de-prioritize enforcing Texas’s abortion ban.

The ordinance was brought to the ballot through a petition started by Decriminalize Denton that received 3,000 signatures, Stevens said. The city council then voted in July to put the measure to the people this upcoming election.

“It’s going to take normal average residents to start at the local level in order to push the state to do the right thing,” Stevens said. “And I really think that we’re gonna do that.”