Take a Step Texas!

Texas NORML is proud to announce that the Legislators’ Education Package prepared for the 2013 Legislative Session is complete and ready for distribution to all 181 State Senators and Representatives. Please print or save it, reference it whenever needed, and share it with your friends and family. Texas NORML volunteers spent over 100 hours researching and compiling facts, consulting with medical and legal professionals, community leaders, and veterans of marijuana law reform nationwide regarding our approach, the content, and style of this informative and persuasive package.

For your reference, we have also included our Activist Training Guide for the 2013 Session, which will explain the basics in helping to change marijuana laws in Texas and guide you through locating, visiting, calling, and writing your own State Representative and Senator. If you are ready to take your involvement to the next level, we are coordinating hand delivery of the Education Package to ALL state legislators. Having the materials delivered by one of their constituents will make the most impact. Email us now if you are able to deliver a packet to your Representative and Senator or assist a patient needing transport to deliver packets to their lawmakers. We’ll communicate with you directly to provide the printed materials and ensure that every legislator receives one copy.

If you are able, please make a donation NOW to the “Take A Step Texas” Campaign, whether it’s small or large. We rely exclusively on donations to fund our efforts, such as the printing and binding for this campaign, which was over $500. We are grateful for any assistance you can provide and remember, your support also allows us to continue our work by allowing us to focus our impact on the upcoming legislative session, rather than fundraising.

Why did Texas NORML create a Education Package?  Because Texas lawmakers need to understand the facts and science about cannabis,  they need to communicate effectively with voters and each other, and join in our efforts to change state laws. Our first challenge is encouraging state legislators to file and support bills in the Texas House and Senate. With the TAKE A STEP TEXAS campaign, we hope to provide the foundation our elected officials need to take those steps and make well-informed decisions about marijuana legislation. Along with knowledge, however, our legislators also need to know that their constituents support them in taking a public stand. So read on, that’s where we need your help!

Prohibition laws are changing rapidly throughout the world and the subject is frequently covered in the news, all while even more benefits and uses of cannabis and industrial hemp are discovered regularly. It can be challenging to keep up with and many of our supporters have asked for a concise compilation of the most recent and hard-hitting facts to review when preparing to discuss marijuana law reform with their lawmakers and others. This guide is designed to educate our legislators directly, but also provides you with information you need when visiting, calling, writing, or emailing your elected officials or just discussing with other individuals.

As you know, Texas is an extremely large and mostly conservative state in desperate need of marijuana law reform. Were you also aware that ALL drug offense laws in Texas must be changed at the state level? Of over 100 NORML chapters in the country, Texas NORML is one of the most active. We are dedicated to working with our elected officials to push for these changes in the upcoming session and every session to follow. However this task demands the attention and hard work of all our supporters throughout the state. It is time for Texas to TAKE A STEP! We ask that you join us in making a serious effort to take that step for yourself, the patients being denied the benefits of cannabis, and your fellow citizens facing unjust prosecution and jail time.

Legislative Alert!

As in previous sessions, there will be at least two proposed bills that we should contact our legislators to support. We should monitor and share news about these bills with the general public. A decriminalization bill has been pre-filed by Rep. Dutton and is called H.B. 184. If passed, this law would reduce possession of up to one ounce of cannabis to a Misdemeanor C violation, rather than Misdemeanor B. The second piece of legislation, which Rep. Naishtat plans to file again, is an affirmative defense bill to provide protection for medical patients and their doctors in recommending and defending cannabis as a medicine in court when necessary. We highly recommend that you create an account on the Texas Legislature’s site and monitor these bills as well as any others that may interest you. Using this site you can review bills filed each day, create personalized lists to monitor specific bills, or request email alerts for the ones you want to monitor for activity. For more information and to create an account, go to http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/MnuMyTLO.aspx.

Thank you for playing your part in helping change the unjust and repressive marijuana laws of the State of Texas and helping to bring about a better future for all Texans.