EP City Council Approves ‘Cite and Release’ Marijuana Policy

I know what you're thinking. The state of Texas has already, sort of, stopped arresting people for simple possession. It's become incredibly tough for law enforcement because they don't have the tools or the time to test whatever they confiscate from people. Since hemp and items with CBD have been legalized, it's difficult to test for the certain level of THC that is now illegal.

Here in El Paso, we had been operating under the 'First Chance' policy. This was targeted at first time offenders. The new 'Cite and Release' policy is targeted at all of those arrested for marijuana possession. Which, again, they can't really test for anyway. El Paso City Court Judge Ruben Morales said:

The person is not being immediately arrested and that of course if very beneficial to the police department because they are not losing hours waiting to book someone or process someone.

There are still some that aren't completely sold on the new policy, although the vote was unanimous at 7 to 0 with one abstention. Judge Morales added:

First chance program is for the people who have never been in trouble, who have clean records and are trying to help them keep those clean records. Cite and release is for the people that don’t qualify.

I know I've said this before, but for crying out loud, just legalize it. Put the proper precautions in place and legalize it. People are still going to do it, but at least then you can make some money off of it.