The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office is refusing to prosecute marijuana cases, even though possession of the drug is illegal in Texas.
In defending his office’s action, or lack thereof, District Attorney John Creuzot said not prosecuting cases where a person is in possession of four ounces or less will unclog the courts and free up police officers.
“Those cases in a traffic stop will take officers four to five hours to complete, between stopping and leaving the jail after they’ve booked the person in,” Creuzot told The Washington Post in a recent interview. “If that officer is on an eight-hour shift, then four or five hours of that is blown, and so we had a big problem here in Dallas in responding to 911 calls, the efficiency of what happens once the police officers get to a home.”
He asserted that in lieu of prosecuting marijuana cases, law enforcement can “intensively focus” on violent crimes.
While the attitude of some toward marijuana legalization has begun changing, that of the Dallas residents who spoke with The Dallas Express last week has not.
“It’s still illegal, so why wouldn’t offenders be prosecuted?” asked Sarah Glom, a 37-year-old mother of three. “I tell my kids there [are] consequences for breaking the rules, but apparently he (Creuzot) thinks differently in certain cases.”
Glom told The Dallas Express she has spoken with her teenage daughter about drugs and their impact on a developing mind and body.
Another local resident, Mariam Watson, believes that marijuana use can lead to the use of more potent drugs. The 87-year-old great-great-grandmother said she remembers when marijuana invaded south Dallas in the 1950s, leading to other drugs coming into her South Dallas neighborhood.
From her stoop, she said, she has seen a series of drugs, from cocaine and crack to heroin, lead to the destruction of many lives, she said.
“It all started with marijuana,” Watson recently lamented to The Dallas Express.
Watson said she doesn’t understand why her district attorney would want to legalize marijuana when he knows it has a negative impact on people’s lives.
Both Watson and Glom dismissed the idea of legalizing recreational marijuana or any other sort of drug. Glom said the move might be politically beneficial, but it does not make it the right thing to do.
The old lady doesn’t know what she is talking about. I did and sold cocaine I first started doing it because I couldn’t find weed. And most of my customers didn’t smoke it. It was a different high. And my relapses where when I was drinking alcohol. Alcohol leads you to harder drugs.
Good. Stop wasting money on marijuana offenses.
Thank heavens someone is using common sense. The courts are over loaded with more serious cases than to spend it with marijuana possession. Marijuana should be legal in the State of Texas to begin with.
Prohibition has never worked, and it never will. Marijuana being sold now is almost 100% grown right here in the USA.
Sure…ask the one old person who lived through such great “documentary” films like Reefer Madness. 🙄 Texas is firmly in the minority on marijuana. Why should our tax dollars and court/officer time be wasted on a substance that is legal in some form in 36 states?? You can’t simultaneously complain that violent crime is out of control and that we don’t have enough police then also complain that they aren’t engaging in wastes of time and money like this. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars to prosecute a simple possession charge that might bring in only hundreds of dollars in fines and restitution…and no ACTUAL jail time beyond the initial arrest, mind you. Let the DA focus on the crimes that *do* affect us all. The DA has prosecutorial discretion and DAs all across this country use that discretion to balance management of finite enforcement resources. You wanna stop every dude with a joint? Triple the police force, put a cop on every street corner, and quadruple the DA’s budget to prosecute. Oh, you don’t want your taxes to go up, either? Well, money doesn’t grow on trees; pick your battles wisely. I want the murderers, rapists, and meth dealers off the streets. How about you?
I was a meth user at one time for yrs. Judge Cruezot sent me to many rehabs. I robbed,stole broke many crimes for meth. In and out of jails. Now I smoke marijuana . Weed has actually saved my life. Changed my life for the better. I work full time no longer commit crimes I’m happier today. I am so grateful for marijuana . If people really knew how it’s changed people’s lives mentally and physically for the better. Theirs no one who has better understanding when it comes to addiction or drug crimes in my opinion than Judge Cruezot.
Congrats on getting off the hard stuff.
I wonder when the point that PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ARE THE NUMBER #1 ADDICTION IN AMERICA!!! NOT WEED!!! SMH
I disagree with the two ladies, I am a father of 5 children,with the youngest 18. None are on drugs its all about parenting the old fashion way. Society blame today’s problems on government, but the fact is this country has turned its back on God and we are seeing the result FACT.