![CScoun030923ssdp_feat Screen shot from a document presented during the March 9, 2023 College Station city council meeting.](https://wtaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/CScoun030923ssdp_feat.jpg)
Public comments during the March 9 College Station city council meeting included a request to decriminalize the possession of misdemeanor amounts of marijuana.
A presentation was made by a representative of a Texas A&M student group “Students for Sensible Drug Policy”. Will Leskowitz said the organization “neither condone nor condemn drug use. But we want to simply educate people and bring change to what we believe are harmful drug laws and instead replace them with empathetic and humane evidence based policies.”
Leskowitz asked the council to consider what is done in Austin, which he says would end citations and arrests for misdemeanor levels of possession in College Station. If there is probable cause, the substance can be seized, and a drug paraphernalia charge would not be issued in lieu of a possession of marijuana charge. Additionally, Leskowitz asked that no city funds or personnel should be used to conduct THC concentration testing.
Leskowitz also said they had local endorsements. Two said that was not correct.
Texas A&M student body president Case Harris told the city council that student government does not support decriminalization.
And College Station municipal judge Ed Spillane gave WTAW News the following statement:
I did not say that at all. I met with the group at the urging of (now retired) council member (John) Crompton. I told them I did not have jurisdiction over marijuana cases and as a judge cannot take any position over laws concerning marijuana. I also let them know that the laws concerning marijuana are state laws versus local council ordinances. That is all. The statement by that individual attributed to me is one hundred percent incorrect and never said by me. As a judge it is unethical for me to take a stand on criminalization etc. of certain laws since I oversee criminal cases and a judge can’t have an appearance of bias either way. It’s a shame someone would state something like that.
Also asking the council to decriminalize marijuana was a fourth generation College Station resident. Tre Watson said “for officers, they could actually focus on true crime in College Station like thefts, sexual assault, and gun violence, which are all more extreme problems than anyone smoking marijuana.”
By state law, the College Station city council could not respond to the request for decriminalizing marijuana, because that was not a part of the meeting agenda.
Click below for comments from the March 9, 2023 College Station city council meeting.
Listen to “College Station city council is asked to decriminalize marijuana” on Spreaker.