Judge Delaney shared this letter with us and some other activists today.

“As a Texas district court judge for over 35 years, who now handles all of the child abuse cases in three counties, I know the ravages of drug addiction. And I’ve seen the effect of drug abuse in my own family. But I strongly endorse HB 1365 (Rep. Lucio), which so far is being held by the Lt. Gov. I implore you to substitute it for HB 3703 or do something close. HB 3703 (Rep. Klick) doesn’t go far enough.
I don’t walk in your shoes as far as senatorial politics are concerned. But I suspect you all feel pressure to not oppose the will of the committee chair or the lieutenant governor. I know it’s easy for me to say, but I call on you today to do the right thing for the people who depend on you, not just what satisfies your leaders.
It’s useful to keep this in perspective. Marijuana compounds have been used as medicine for at least 4800 years, according to the written evidence. Here in the United States it was in common use by doctors and patients from at least 1850 and on into the early 20th century. It’s only been in the last 100 years that our society began to enact bans on these products. And the bans had nothing to do with health or crime or actual public safety reasons.
And now we’ve rediscovered that marijuana chemicals can bring relief to many human medical conditions. This is not theory or anecdote. This is fact that has been observed by thousands and confirmed by research. I have seen it with my own eyes with members of my family. I’ve heard the testimonials of dozens of other people who’ve experienced the same thing. I’ve heard the mothers of autistic children. I’ve heard the veterans (including a son-in-law) suffering from PTSD. For almost a decade I’ve been speaking on this subject at Rotary Club meetings around the state and I hear these reports over and over, and how ridiculous it is to deprive people of this medicine. I also hear small businessmen complaining about not being able to hire people who have old marijuana convictions. That’s a related but different issue. People want relief from illogical and oppressive marijuana laws!
The people who elected you are just asking you to give them back a limited amount of freedom to work with their doctor to get the help they need. Why stand in the way of that?
Is it because police leaders tell you they’re opposed? I wonder if they can really speak for their membership. A Pew Research Center national survey of nearly 8,000 police officers in late 2016 found that 68% of them say that marijuana use should be legal for either personal or medical use.
I hear police leaders making the old slippery slope argument. That’s the public argument that the lieutenant governor gave. But we know it holds no water. Future legislatures can draw the line wherever they want. No one should insult our intelligence with that argument.
Police leaders also claim crime has increased in states that have “legalized.” I haven’t heard them make that claim about states that have simply passed medical marijuana. But contrary to police statements, all of the studies I hear about from government and academic research say there has been no connection with increased crime, and that youth usage rates have stayed the same or gone down.
And then there’s the “gateway” argument, but that’s been proven to be a myth. If anything marijuana is a “gateway” to less drug abuse. We know that opiod deaths are 25% lower in states that have legalized to some extent. In Texas, drug enemy #1 is methamphetamine. About half of all my cases are because of it. With some amount of legal access to marijuana, maybe we could cut back on meth use.
And these police arguments haven’t stood the test of real experience. Out of the 33 American states (including every state Texas borders) and the District of Columbia that have passed medical marijuana, not one of them has gone back to the old days. The entire nation of Canada has had medical marijuana for over 18 years without going backward.
Surely you know that thousands of Texans already medicate themselves with marijuana products they’ve obtained illegally. They’ll keep doing it because it works. Meanwhile Texas is not collecting any tax revenue on the products they buy. Last year Colorado collected over $200 million in marijuana tax revenue. Texas has more than five times the population. Certainly we could use an additional billion dollars (a year).
Not only is Texas losing out on the taxes, it’s wasting money and law enforcement time by arresting and prosecuting people who are doing no harm. Studies show that it takes about 2 ½ hours of a police officer’s time to handle a marijuana arrest. Obviously there are better things to do with that time.
The people who are asking for just a little bit of their freedom back know this is in your hands right now. They are watching closely and waiting. The internet is alive with their discussions. They are veterans with PTSD, mothers of autistic children, and others. They’ll be left behind unless you act. Please do the right thing during this next 48 hours so you will be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
John Delaney Senior District Judge Bryan ”