Activist group continues push for marijuana decriminalization
Christopher Green | Staff Reporter
SAN MARCOS — Mano Amiga continues to gather signatures for a petition to have marijuana decriminalized in San Marcos. So far, Mano Amiga has gathered over 3,000 signatures.
Mano Amiga is a rights activist group that organizes for systemic and cultural change around issues of criminalization and immigration, especially in Hays and Caldwell Counties.
The petition was started early this year and if Mano Amiga can get 10% of registered voters in San Marcos to sign the petition they will be able to have marijuana decriminalization placed on the November election ballot. They need 4,400 signatures to have marijuana decriminalization placed on the ballot.
Mano Amiga has been gathering signatures around San Marcos at the downtown square, grocery stores, live music events and other community events. They are now working on getting signatures on the Texas State Campus.
Mano Amiga will be at Texas State University on the quad Monday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Communications Director for Mano Amiga Sam Benavides said they are trying to get more than 4,400 signatures.
“So, we are setting our goal much higher than 4,400 to make sure that out of the you know, let’s say we get seven or eight thousand, that 4,400 of those will be valid registered voters,” said Benavides.
Benavides also said Mano Amiga is trying to get volunteers to go to polling locations.
“We need to set up outside these polls, because that is where the registered voters will be. So, we’re working to get volunteers out to all three early voting location sites, which is LBJ Student Center, the Government Center and the Health Department, the County Health Department on Broadway,” said Benavides.
Benavides said that since starting the petition Mano Amiga has been getting more volunteers for the activist right’s group. One of those volunteers is Andrew Maglich.
Maglich said he signed the petition because it is something that is long overdue in San Marcos.
“It’s an issue that is kind of at the center of a lot of different issues, whether it be immigrant justice, whether it be massacre incarceration, whether it be racism, whether it be policing the problems with that,” said Maglich.
Maglich said with cite-and-release of low levels of marijuana people still must go through a judiciary process that can be unaffordable for a lot of people.
“They can’t afford to pay their court fees, they can’t take off time from work to show up to court. This is something that is at the intersection of a lot of different issues. And whenever it comes to folks who are immigrants, folks who are undocumented, this is one less thing that police can stop people for and end up taking folks are undocumented or who have family members who are undocumented out of their communities.
Maglich believes the response from students has been positive.
“From students, the response has been very popular, you know, you stand up there and you say, you know, come sign to decriminalize marijuana, and people’s heads turn around, and they immediately come towards you,” Maglich said.
To learn more about the petition to decriminalize marijuana and how to sign the petition visit MANO AMIGA (manoamigasm.org)
Melissa Jewett now publishes propaganda on behalf of this trash?
Has she been threatened or coerced?
Janna…neither…lol. Just trying to be fair and balanced.
Thanks for reading!
Melissa Jewett
Dear Staff:
Thank you for your reply and concern.
Propaganda, noun. Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
FACTS. You’re aware that municipal government holds NO authority to overrule, nullify or conflict with our state and federal laws. A city council holds powers limited to enacting ordinances {laws) which are enforceable by fine only. Yet any street wise person will tell you that once a sucker believes something to be true, nothing will convince him otherwise. For this reason your Easter bunny story will live forever in the minds of some. A prime example is San Marcos Park Ranger Loy Locke, who with a straight face once told an associate of mine that, “If the state of California can make marijuana legal, then why can’t the City of San Marcos do the same thing” ?
RESULTS: So . . . was it Locke or just Alyssa Garza who urged you publish Version 16 of this never-ending progressive myth delivered ala the Easter bunny which “informs” us that because the City owns the Easter Bunny, it now also holds the power to alter state and federal law for the better by allowing the unfettered use of street drugs as will somehow make everyone happy with our borders overrun with millions of third-world criminals swamping our jails, overcrowding our school systems with offspring and bankrupting our hospitals and social services.
Thanks for believing in the concept of balance, albeit the flaw of sponsoring propaganda informing us that until street drugs are made available to our captors that America will remain a racist nation. As ably set out and described by your new pals in their own words “It’s an issue that is kind of at the center of a lot of different issues, whether it be immigrant justice, whether it be massacre [sic] incarceration, whether it be racism, whether it be policing the problems with that,“ said Maglich.
You will never appease your executioners by sticking your neck out, Ms. Jewett,
Nor, as here, will they simply go away by you pretending not to see them.
This group is woefully uneducated on the issues surrounding decriminalization. They were at TXST all week. I asked a few very simple questions. They are going to compare pot to alcohol. So following that analogy:
* What is the acceptable amount of THC in the system to legally drive?
* How long should someone be forced to wait before getting behind the wheel?
– Their response was that it was a separate issue. They are only moving to decriminalize possession.
* Why have it if you’re not going to smoke it?
– No answer.
I was in Denver when they decriminalized marijuana. You could smell it at every red light. I don’t even think I’m exaggerating. For 3 months, it was everywhere. Kids were acting/dying like it was Panama City at Spring Break. Colorado was caught behind the ball. They had to scramble to establish testing standards. We should NOT decriminalize until these questions are answered.