Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Wednesday that he is suing five Texas cities for adopting policies that effectively “decriminalize” marijuana.
The lawsuit accuses Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin, and Denton of violating the Texas Local Government Code, which states that the governing body of a city “may not adopt a policy under which the entity will not fully enforce laws relating to drugs.”
Although none of the cities have legalized the use of marijuana, voters in each of the cities approved ordinances in 2022 to “decriminalize” the drug in some manner.
In the case of Denton, however, city council members voted not to strengthen the voter-approved ordinance, and have not fully enacted it, per the Denton Record-Chronicle. Denton police still write citations for misdemeanor marijuana possession, the paper reported.
Paxton said in a statement about the lawsuit that the cities being sued continue to “deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities.”
“This unconstitutional action by municipalities demonstrates why Texas must have a law to ‘follow the law.’ It’s quite simple: the legislature passes every law after a full debate on the issues, and we don’t allow cities the ability to create anarchy by picking and choosing the laws they enforce,” he said in a news release sent to The Dallas Express.
Despite Paxton’s claims that the cities are “run by pro-crime extremists,” all five cities passed the ordinances by an overwhelming majority of voters.
More than 80% of voters in Austin and San Marcos voted in favor of the ordinances, while the ordinances in Elgin and Denton each received more than 70% of the votes in favor, according to The Texas Tribune. Similarly, the ordinance in Killeen received support from just under 70% of the voters.
Paxton is “committed to maintaining law and order in Texas when cities violate the lawful statutes designed to protect the public from crime, drugs, and violence,” the release stated.
The City of Denton responded to the lawsuit by telling NBC 5 DFW that it is aware of Paxton’s “lawsuit and subsequent news release, adding that it does not “comment on pending litigation.”