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A Republican Texas lawmaker filed a bill Monday to completely deregulate marijuana in the Lone Star State, striking any mention of the plant from state laws.
"I don't believe that when God made marijuana he made a mistake that government needs to fix," wrote state Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, in a column in TribTalk on Monday.
The 24-page bill begins: "The following provisions are repealed," then lists dozens of Texas statutes related to marijuana. If the Legislature were to approve the bill, Texas would have no laws regarding pot.
Simpson told KETK-TV in East Texas that he supported regulating marijuana like the state regulates "tomatoes, jalapenos or coffee."
The bill takes a markedly different approach to marijuana law reform than other states. Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Washington, D.C., have approved legislation to legalize pot within a detailed framework of taxation and regulation, but it would not be so in Texas under Simpson's bill, which would leave the crop under only basic agricultural regulations.
In his column, Simpson reflected on his Republican beliefs in small government and individual liberties, and he invoked biblical verse to explain his initiative to repeal marijuana prohibition. He told KETK he wants to "reframe the current marijuana discussion" by talking prohibition repeal in terms of common conservative values.
His perspective resonates with 85-year-old Houstonian Ann Lee, who founded the group Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition and traveled to Washington D.C. last week to advocate legalization at a conservative political conference.
"Prohibition goes against the fundamental principles of the Republican party. Prohibition is against the fundamental principle of freedom," she said. "When you look at the facts, it's not conservative to support prohibition."
The Republican Party did not respond to repeated requests for the party's platform on marijuana laws.
In December, a bipartisan coalition of Texas lawmakers introduced a bill to reduce penalties for marijuana-related offenses. Then, a spokesman for the Sheriffs' Association of Texas told the Chronicle "the sheriffs of Texas are going to bring all their influence to try to stop the legalization of marijuana at any level."
Simpson's bill still must pass through six more stages of approval to become law.
Well, everyone except for that Sheriffs association. Fuck them.
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