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Houston’s First Anti-Gang Task force Director calls for an end to prosecution of misdemeanor marijuana possession

Kim Ogg calls continued prosecution of misdemeanor marijuana possession in Harris County a waste of money and lives.

“The real ‘reefer madness’ is wasting $10M dollars of taxpayer money a year prosecuting people for miniscule amounts of marijuana, says the former prosecutor and head of Crime Stoppers. Marijuana is medically available in 24 states and increasingly legal state to state. Giving people permanent criminal records for possession of marijuana destroys lives and hurts Houston’s future.”

Ogg was one of the featured speakers Saturday at City Hall where Houston’s latest marijuana reform demonstration took place, and made the comments as the Texas legislature considers marijuana reform in Austin. On Wednesday, the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee will hold hearings on at least five bills.

“In just seven years, 100,000 Houstonians have been prosecuted for misdemeanor possession of marijuana, says Ogg.  About 80% are minority, male, under 25, and low income.  100% of them now have a permanent criminal record.”

As of June 2013, Harris County ranked fifth in the nation in arrests for possession of misdemeanor marijuana. Ogg says our current marijuana prosecution policy decreases public safety by depleting limited police, court and jail resources, and she argues that uneven application of drug stops in low income, minority neighborhoods strain race relations.

“While ordinary citizens call police to report crimes such as theft, burglary, or murder, virtually all arrests for possession of marijuana are the result of police-initiated stops. With police off the patrol beat an average of three hours per marijuana arrest, serious crimes that harm the public go uninvestigated.”

This week marijuana reform will dominate hearings at the Texas Legislature in Austin.

“The outdated lockem’ up and throw away the key approach used for decades against marijuana offenders has harmed generations of young people’s lives, making our workforce less competitive and keeping those with convictions from good jobs for years.” It’s time for a common sense to prevail in Harris County and that must begin with shifting the focus of the District Attorney’s Office to prosecution of violent and property crimes—the crimes which citizens want investigated and prosecuted—instead of wasting 12 percent of the DA’s annual budget prosecuting misdemeanor marijuana cases. “

Ogg has the credentials to help lead the marijuana reform effort. A former felony prosecutor in Harris County, Houston’s first Anti-Gang Task Force Director, past executive director of Crime Stoppers, criminal defense attorney and 2014 candidate for the office of Harris County District Attorney, Ogg is an expert in criminal justice policy, law, and procedure.

As a candidate, Ogg proposed community service for marijuana arrests, freeing jail space for real criminals and saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

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