How much is too much pot? Fort Worth mayor and council member debate city’s policy
.png "Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker (left) and council member Chris Nettles (right) debated the city’s marijuana policy on Twitter.")
A debate over Fort Worth’s marijuana policies spilled onto social media.
Council member Chris Nettles wants to change Fort Worth’s marijuana policy because he said too many nonviolent offenders are ending up in jail for what he called a small amount of pot.
Fort Worth police policy allows officers to cite and release nonviolent people with less than two ounces of marijuana in their possession.
However, Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes told the City Council council Tuesday the marijuana is not weighed until it is entered into evidence, meaning some people could be taken to jail for less than the two ounce limit. Some officers have scales in their cars, Noakes said, but he couldn’t say whether that was true for every officer.
Nettles is advocating raising the limit to four ounces.
Funds from the city’s public safety sales tax could be used to outfit the police with scales, Nettles wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
This would ensure people aren’t sent to jail due to an officer’s mistake about the amount of marijuana in someone’s possession.
“We should not be jailing non violent individuals,” Nettles wrote.
A quarter pound is equivalent to hundreds of joints, Mayor Mattie Parker wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
Parker was correcting a news report that stated the city is considering decriminalizing marijuana.
“This was one informal report requested by one council member. No policy change is on the table,” Parker tweeted.
Nettles retorted that even though he is one council member, he represents 109,000 residents, and was speaking on behalf of them and, “countless others from different districts.”
“Please don’t discredit a Black man and diminish him to ‘one single council member’ when he represents 109,000+ ppl,” said Nettles’s district director Sally Matzen in a tweet.
Nettles’ changes are focused on keeping nonviolent individuals from ending up in prison, Matzen said, noting that of the 230 people stopped for marijuana possession in 2022, only 16 were cited and released.
The debate about marijuana legalization belongs at the state level and right now it’s illegal in Texas, Parker said in a tweet.
Colorado, where marijuana is legal, limits possession to two ounces for adults 21 and older, she said.
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 12:28 PM.
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