The LBJ Future Forum is a vibrant and energetic public policy discussion forum that provides thought leadership through compelling programs and activities, inspiring the doers of today and the builders of tomorrow.
Tuesday night, the forum hosted a session titled Legalizing Marijuana: What are the Economic, Social, and Cultural Impacts? The panel consisted of Texas Tribune’s Alex Samuels as moderator, Jax Finkel of Texas NORML, Margaret Moore – Travis County District Attorney and Yoko Miyashita – Legal Counsel for Leafly. The panel discussed where they think the, law and society is moving, how the market regulation impacts health and safety of consumers, how recent changes (incrementalism) are helpful or harmful, and the current e-cig/e-juice scare among other topics.
When speaking on the topic of the current decriminalization bill and why we should hope that legalization takes place in the near future, Moore spoke to the notion that the arc of history, as seen in other states and even Texas, is showing that Texas will move towards legalization and lesser penalties. Moore noted that when she was a child (Moore is 70+ years old) she witnessed a man in court facing possible life in prison for just a matchbook amount of cannabis possession and it was the first time she had ever seen the substance.
In regards to incrementalism Finkel pointed out that some may see it as a good thing while others may see it as bad, and each side has good reasoning as to the perception they speak of. But we have seen major changes and steps are being taken
“As soon as Marijuana started being grown in Texas, legally, that was a big change. As soon as DPS has to come up with regulations on how we are going to treat this plant and how we are going to grow it, that changes things. Can you say that perhaps the way the program was drafted was to create a stall tactic and make it difficult to access? Sure, we could say that, but it still is progress. Some people don’t like incrementalism but sometimes that’s the only way to get things done. But if we don’t continue to chip away at it, I don’t think we are going to go from from not having medical to retail adult use in just one session, that’s just not going to happen. And we can see that through the top three leadership.”
On the same topic Miyashita pointed out,
“On the education and storytelling, there is not enough education and there is not enough data out there. This is because it’s federally illegal and those research dollars are not there. Federally funded organizations cannot risk their federal funding. Once that starts to crack open and you can get that research data, and tell these real human stories and how cannabis is helping people. And I think that has a small effect and at least the outcome we’re looking at.”
On the topic of the ejuice scare Finkel and Miyashita pointed out and clarified that it is only the black market cartridges/juice that are causing issues, specifically the THC cartridges. The general consensus was that putting the cartridges in a well regulated market would place responsibility on retailers and producers, and allow consumers an avenue for holding responsible parties accountable for the damage they do the people in the marketplace.
If you would like to view some footage captured from the event, one can view it at this link.
