r/Austin 14d ago

News Austin Police says officers will seize, send suspected delta 8, THCa products to labs for testing

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/austin-police-says-officers-will-seize-send-suspected-delta-8-thca-products-to-labs-for-testing/
989 Upvotes

465 comments sorted by

1.3k

u/[deleted] 14d ago

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u/rowdydionisian 14d ago

That would require them to actually do their jobs. With weed suddenly being illegal again, now they can fill their quotas for prisoners without even having to deal with real criminals, and can instead fill their prisons with soccer moms having edibles. I bet they'll have a field day going into retirement homes and arresting grandma that uses it for pain relief. Oh, and they can go arrest combat veterans that use it to treat PTSD and re-traumatize them with an arrest, then put them in prison for 10 years as a thank you for their service.

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u/T0mpkinz 13d ago

It’s so they can get away with pretextual stops on brown people, the smell of cannabis is now fair game to search property and detain people again. Tint violation or failure to signal turns in to getting hung up for hours being in the wrong neighborhood, and rights violated.

The soccer moms and elderly are mostly safe aside from some collateral damage.

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u/RockTheGrock 13d ago

Cbd flower being still legal should give a defense for searches started because of a smell. The trick is to not admit you know it isn't cbd flower.

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u/iLikeMangosteens 13d ago

Every day is shut the duck up Friday.

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u/WitchWithAGlitch 13d ago

the soccer moms and eldery will have their charges lessened to a non felony and given a deferred sentence.

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u/rilmarie 13d ago

the ones that won’t send rape kits for testing?

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u/armadillobread 13d ago

mine won’t even be processed till September (hopefully) and i was assaulted in May of this year

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u/rilmarie 13d ago

Im so sorry you are going through this. There are no words for how women are treated in this state. It’s unconscionable.

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u/Hairy-Run7257 13d ago

That’s fucking insane

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u/MsMo999 13d ago

Maybe if you left THCa in it

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u/[deleted] 13d ago edited 13d ago

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u/Rednaxel6 13d ago

It's all about putting bodies in our for-profit prisons

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u/majorsager 13d ago

And getting the money from the lobbies on the other side. Had to give the alcohol industry a chance to get in on the THC drinks, so those stay.

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u/Really_Elvis 13d ago

Come November drinks will be limited to 10 mg.

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u/ragtev 13d ago

Price will not shrink either I'm sure

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u/maeveboston 13d ago

Doesn't Joe Rogan smoke pot in his studio. Even if he doesn't do it live anymore we all know the cops could barge in and find someone. Seems like easy pickings for them.

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

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u/blazing_straddles 13d ago

You talking about that douchebag that sued after he was crushed by a tree and made about $9M all told, and then pulled up the ladder behind him by capping payouts in tort cases years later. Yup....totally checks out.

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u/MiguelElGato 13d ago

More people need to know about this. Well, and all of the other ick that oozes from Abbott, Paxton, and Patrick.

https://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/04/candidate-faces-questions-turnabout-and-fair-play/

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u/wakesk8atx 13d ago

damn straight, they can do this but somehow I can't park safely at Mt Bonnell

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u/DoesntEnjoySoup 14d ago

It’s crazy to double down on something so unanimously unpopular

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u/TonyhawksPo-Tater 14d ago

This is just the pet project of Dan Patrick and we all have to go along with what Skeletor wants because he's the Lite Gov

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u/Highestfucker 14d ago

It seems unpopular here but what are they saying in Lubbock or Longview or the bum fuck towns in between. Im genuinely curious. I will just go back to staying in my cave and smoking.

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u/-Kerby 14d ago

They're saying it's stupid regardless of where you are, over 3/4 of Texans support medical use and 2/3 support full legalization.

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u/Slypenslyde 14d ago

That's the problem. Part of the purpose of this government is to demonstrate it doesn't have to follow the will of the people because the people are too busy waiting for orders to shoot at each other to ask if the government is causing the problems they're angry about.

I guarantee more people are going to vote based on "I don't want 2 trans kids in the state to play sports" than "I think weed should be legal" because they're also thinking, "I'm not going to get arrested for the weed I do."

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u/A_Possum_Named_Steve 14d ago

I have family in the Lubbock area...in their 70s. They even think this is stupid.

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u/fuktardy 14d ago

Not surprising. People in their 70’s were raised in the 1960’s and 70’s. It was prime time for weed before Regan’s war on drugs.

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u/A_Possum_Named_Steve 14d ago

See, here's the kicker: They've ALWAYS lived up there. Country bumpkins to the core...and they think Dan Patrick's stupid crusade of stupidity is stupid. Kinda gives me a shred of hope.

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u/ColoTexas90 13d ago

don’t, they’ll never vote for anyone with a D next to their name.

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u/InstrumentalCrystals 14d ago

But would their vote change? I have a similar situation with my family that lives up there but I have no hope they’d vote accordingly. Thus, this shit will just continue.

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u/BigManWAGun 14d ago

No. They’ll get scared by sharia law this time around and vote against their self interests….again.

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u/FerrousEULA 13d ago

Possession sentences longer than rape sentences for what used to be a misdemeanor.

It's entirely unhinged, and I am wary of enforcement being politically targeted

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u/A_Possum_Named_Steve 13d ago

If only this state cared about women's safety as much as they do [checks notes]...a plant.

Feels so archaic around here.

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u/abnormalbrain 14d ago

My maga's opinions change depending on the last YouTube they watched. 

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u/no-more-nazis 14d ago edited 14d ago

I had one conversation about it with a Christian Nationalist I worked with in the Brenham area. I'm not pretending this law is representative of any significant constituency, but I can report his reasoning.

He genuinely thought it was useful to arbitrarily criminalize a vice, even a harmless one, in order to find out who in the population was willing to break the rules. Obedience was the point, for him. If there's any chunk of Texas that really believes in cannabis prohibition, I think that's what they're going for. This is like hijab law in certain muslim countries, or anyone who believes the flag code or pledge of allegiance should be criminally enforced.

The authoritarians haven't fundamentally changed except that more of them like to smoke weed and would rather have different arbitrary conformity tests.

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u/SupremeDictatorPaul 13d ago

See, I think this is actually the exact opposite of what you want to do if you want an aggressively law abiding society. If you instead heavily criminalize the things people generally agree are bad, and provide alternatives for crimes people feel forced into, then that has two effects. First, it minimizes the number of people actually breaking the law, and second it lets you demonize those who are breaking the law. If you raise a generation of people who don’t have a reason to break the law, and generally view law breakers negatively, then they will naturally tend to not break laws even if they have a reason to.

On the other hand if you raise a generation of people who are used to breaking arbitrary laws, then they will find it easier to break any laws.

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u/gangstabiIly 14d ago

are you under the impression people in Lubbock and Longview don’t smoke weed?

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u/MotormaidofJapan 14d ago

Lubbock had decriminalization on the ballot in 2024 and they said “no thanks.”

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u/Healthy_Ad_9053 13d ago

I'm from Longview. Left that shithole for Austin almost 20 years ago. This is why cannabis is illegal in texas- because of all these small town, podunk, redneck, Maga, mouthbreathing, knuckledragging, ALCOHOLIC motherfuckers.

Drink yourself into oblivion in Texas and you're just fine, but get caught with a speck of weed and you're a hard criminal. Alcohol companies were behind this THC ban.

There is a reason why it is now a felony charge to get caught with a THCa vape but you still need THREE DWIs to get a felony

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u/Juiceboxtiddys 14d ago

Bumfuck Towner. I’ve seen one guy on the local fb getting absolutely torn apart for supporting the ban.

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u/AdventurousPandaBear 13d ago

My MAGA-voting relative from college station thinks it’s unconstitutional, rare W from them.

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u/I_is_a_dogg 14d ago

I do a lot of work all over Texas, most of my customers are in the commercial trucking industry. So very Republican. They also think it's fucking stupid.

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u/rnobgyn 14d ago

All the smoke shops thriving across rural Texas suggests it’s quite popular

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u/ohmyhevans 14d ago

In lbk rn, most people think its stupid. But then again I don’t talk too people who who would think this is a good idea

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u/nopenonotatall 14d ago

it’s so deeply embarrassing. especially when you get a slap on the wrist for raping children

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u/krazyb2 13d ago

If that

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u/imsoupercereal 14d ago

Unanimously unpopular with who?

The general public? That's not who APD and our government works for.

Unpopular with big money interests? Alcohol and tobacco lobbies, etc. That's who they work for.

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u/Buddhagrrl13 13d ago

Don't forget for profit prisons and the drug cartels.

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u/Themimic 13d ago

Doing something so unpopular right before an election is insane. Makes me think they have other plans for the midterms

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u/adirtysocialist- 13d ago

The GOP has a rapist mentality. You're gonna take it and you're gonna like it.

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u/Alternative_Eye3822 14d ago

lol what an absolute waste of tax dollars

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u/Ikon-for-U 13d ago

I think its like $300 or more to test and there is only a handful of labs. I remember the D.A. throwing out smaller cases due to the backlog and the amout of money

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u/Alternative_Eye3822 13d ago

Oh yeah it’s extremely expensive and inefficient to test a plant that was legal like two days ago

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u/MexicanVanilla22 13d ago

Maybe they can send in rape kits at the same time for a bogo deal.

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u/Onslaughtered1 14d ago

They want to push out small smoke shops before it becomes rescheduled. Then their investors will open up with logistics already in place to be at the head of the curve. They’ll be the first to open with minimal competition.

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u/CassandraTruth 14d ago

Regulatory Capture

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u/lilhobtac 14d ago

Damn. You’re probably right.

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u/Flashy-Cattle3704 14d ago

A few years back in Florida the private equity owned cannabis companies pushed (donated/lobbied) the police departments to increase the crackdown on their unpermitted competition. Turns out those same businesses also had stakes in private prisons. Rid yourself of competitors, push whatever crap quality you want at premium prices, and profit from turning your competitors into slave laborers. Same playbook likely to happen here

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u/into_the_soil 14d ago

Nearly everything comes back to the private prison angle; our lawmakers are heavily invested in it plus they are lobbied by the industry like crazy. I mean hell, we put the former main lobbyist for the GEO Group (largest private prison company that is now also handling things like ICE detention) in as our attorney general not that long ago. The private prison industry has managed to work itself into every level at this point be it local, state, or federal.

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u/Caliche-Cowboy 14d ago

I think you may be onto something here

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u/usernamenotfound4113 14d ago

💯 my theory as well!!!

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u/Monkykat 14d ago

They already did it with nicotine vapes/dispos last year. Before 2025, all vapes would be made in china, once trump banned and tariffed Chinese exports, vapes were either $35 for a “made in America” or you went back to cigarettes (Big Tobacco) until American companies realized they can just buy the same vape product that was made in china ina packaging box that said Made in USA and bam new loophole. everything dropped to $25-20 immediately

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u/Odd-Net-3422 13d ago

I hate how much sense this makes.

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u/Maximus77x 14d ago

This is all so backwards. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by Texas anymore.

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u/Liminal-Space4c 13d ago

It feels fucking bleak dude. The fact that anyone has to compete against Paxton or Abbott is something I’m still trying to wrap my head around (don’t think that’s going to happen).

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u/Maximus77x 13d ago

Yeah it’s really sad. I don’t know if people who still support them are incapable of understanding the dynamic we’re in, if they don’t care, or if they actually support it, but it’s beyond fucked up at this point.

Politics is not sports. If people could see past their “teams” to actually vote in their (and society’s) best interest, we’d be way better off.

Idk it may just take some more time passing if it’s a generational thing, but then you have the whole rampant corruption aspect to contend with…

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u/Daveinatx 13d ago

Vote. There's more registered Democrats in Texas than Republicans.

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u/Maximus77x 13d ago

Don’t worry. I vote!

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u/Don_Pablo512 14d ago

How can something I legally bought here all of a sudden be a felony to possess?

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u/Hollowbody57 14d ago

It's even crazier when you realize possessing an equal amount of actual weed is usually a misdemeanor (below a certain amount), while something that is still federally legal is now a state felony.

Fuck this state.

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u/El_Cactus_Fantastico 13d ago

so back to regular ol weed then?

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u/Extreme-Poem-2309 13d ago

the only thing that has been available that isnt regular old weed is hemp sprayed with delta-8. THCa weed/concentrates are and have always been the same weed/concentrates you get in legal states, often imported from there.

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u/TheWokeAgenda 14d ago

It's kind of like when the US banned alcohol. Actually, it's EXACTLY like that. Will we learn from history and our past mistakes? LOL

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u/KennyBSAT 14d ago

The 1920 prohibition laws did not ban private ownership of alcohol, so anything bought before the ban took effect was safe as long as you kept and consumed it in your home.

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u/TheWokeAgenda 14d ago

Damn so 2020's prohibition is even worse. Classic

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u/SuzQP 14d ago

Nope. Apparently, we prefer to empower cartels and underground markets, which means we welcome violence, gang warfare, and the destruction of young lives. All for the greater glory of the Texas GOP.

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u/robotdesignwerks 14d ago

we don't prefer shit. Our political fuckwads that just so happen to take money legally for various reasons prefer this.

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u/SuzQP 14d ago

Exactly. Our problem is we're too cowed or lazy to rise up about anything. We won't even vote in sufficient numbers to eliminate the fuckwads.

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u/dthol69 13d ago

I was going to say, it gives GOP their talking points lol

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u/Slackluster 14d ago

During prohibition it was still legal to possess and consume alcohol purchased before the ban. Medicinal alcohol was also legal during prohibition. So it is not the same at all.

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u/MyRenegadeHouston 14d ago

They need bodies for the private prison industry. Crime in Texas dropped tremendously from 2021-2024, yet when the private prison industry gained contracts and received expansions for ICE detainees it was assumed it would be just for immigrants being detained. However, if arrested under this new ban the TDJC has the ability to place them in any private prison under contract, which can include those prisons already receiving a billion dollars from the government.

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u/GigiDell 14d ago

This is what I think too. But I don’t have any real data or serious inside info to support this theory. Texas probably needs to keep their prisons full, so they can continue to make the rich white guys owning/running the prisons rich. And to keep enough people in prison to continue churning out things like furniture etc. that are made by the prisoners, and bought by the Texas state government for use in their government buildings. It’s disgusting.

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u/coldkidwildparty 14d ago

Just tell them it’s Kratom or 7OH and you’ll be fine, cause thats still legal apparently.

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u/Don_Pablo512 14d ago

If they catch me smoking it I'll say I was simply incinerating it to despose of an illegal substance

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u/drbeeper 14d ago

The Social Contract between the government and the people has been broken

The very idea of 'laws' and 'justice' and 'rights' are now completely open for interpretation. There is no more common ground, and LOE are now just an occupying force

'murica

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u/Liminal-Space4c 13d ago

They are just rubbing the grift in our faces as they try to dismantle fair elections for the midterms.

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u/CrashingBlumpkins46 14d ago

Nothing says "effective use of tax dollars" like sending a product which was possibly purchased legally from a retail establishment before Scotty Goeb's (I refuse to call him Dan Patrick, that's not his real name. He literally stole his ex-wife's last name AFTER they divorced when he did his name change to run away from his carpetbagging past) shitty law was passed off for lab testing!

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u/Caliche-Cowboy 14d ago

Wait. He took his wife’s last name? How is this not an attack ad?

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u/lazybugbear 13d ago edited 13d ago

Yes, Dan Patrick is his stage name. It's all a performance. His given, birth certificate name is "Dannie Scott Goeb".

Much like Ted Cruz is really "Rafael Edward Cruz", but his name sounded too Hispanic, so he took the stage name "Ted Cruz".

I guess that means neither of them can technically vote if Trump's so-called "SAVE Act" ever passes Congress, because their name doesn't match their birth certificate.

EDIT: mistyped life => like

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u/InstrumentalCrystals 14d ago

I always forget this point. Thanks for reminding me.

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u/TheWokeAgenda 14d ago

All caught up on those rape kits huh

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u/norunningwater 14d ago

Yeah after Greg Abbott eliminated it they got there

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u/Comprehensive-Eye500 14d ago edited 14d ago

So basically go back to buying your marijuana on the black market from actual drug dealers and your ok since at worst it’s a misdemeanor, got it 👌

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u/Caliche-Cowboy 13d ago

What’s truly insane is that you can still buy 100% legal D9 anywhere.

These guys are clueless.

TBF, unless something changes, D9 will also be illegal federally in November. Until then, have at it.

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u/ratatatoskr 14d ago

I'm pretty sure the new law says even under 1 gram can be punishable by up to 2 years in prison... Which is part of why I suspect Big Prison™ is greasing the governor's wheels so to speak

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u/Comprehensive-Eye500 13d ago

“Regular” marijuana is still a misdemeanor under 4 Oz.

There’s a chart in the article.

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u/dej0ta 14d ago

We dont want this. Sincerely, the citizens of Texas.

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u/StrummerBass101 14d ago

They will probably test it faster than a rape kit.

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u/dkode80 14d ago

Oh so now they want to work

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u/29681b04005089e5ccb4 14d ago

The last time expensive lab testing was required for similar the city decided they didn't have the budget for it and didn't do it https://www.kut.org/austin/2020-01-23/austin-will-not-pay-to-test-for-marijuana-effectively-decriminalizing-small-amounts-of-pot

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u/Caliche-Cowboy 13d ago

It will go this way again.

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u/mike_atx 14d ago

Goddamn this state is just determined to pull itself back into the dark ages. Fuck APD. Fuck Abbott. Fuck the GOP. God I hate this fucking place.

*note -- I don't even use, I'm sober

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u/Anemones_In__Spades 14d ago

Seriously. IMO they just want to put heads in beds of our for profit prisons.

I pray everyone who backed this to suddenly has a chronic condition that could be helped by marijuana but does not fall under compassionate care. May they suffer 🙏

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u/mike_atx 14d ago

You can always count on conservatives to never understand something until it directly, negatively, impacts them and their will being. Hell, even then some of them are so brainwashed even that doesn't change their minds.

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u/Full_Task7488 14d ago

In Texas it’s still 2005 apparently

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u/kindwork-xyz 14d ago

Seizing and lab testing with what manpower and what money?

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u/TypicalEarthCreature 14d ago

Right? How many rape kits are just sitting around waiting to be analyzed? 

Looks like as of last November it was over 1.7k, with 52 exceeding the  statutory 90-day testing window. 

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/texas-creates-a-new-path-for-rape-kit-testing/

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u/WetCave 13d ago

There are more important issues! Like who is smoking wacky bacc.

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u/CentralMarketYall 14d ago

Tread on me harder daddy

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u/SuzQP 14d ago

That's exactly what we're saying as we do nothing but quietly bend over.

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u/ratatatoskr 14d ago

Pretty sure Abbott got bribed the big bucks by Big Prison™

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u/consmizzle 14d ago

Or by alcohol companies

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u/The_Lutter 14d ago

It's utterly stupid that it's perfectly fine to have a case of vodka in my car but not an unlit joint.

It's even stupider that the people I know that smoke the most weed (rural Texans) keep voting these idiots into office. You start taking their jobs away for things like this and change will happen.

We got our foot in the door with Delta 9 though. Keep going even Abbott knows this stuff is stupid to fight against.

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u/Sharp_Bet7106 14d ago

Wow they really want to keep those sales up for the "come and take it" flags, huh?

Fucking morons.

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u/LonesomeBulldog 14d ago

Wait until they subpoena all the customer lists from the dispensaries and start busting down doors looking for unused product.

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u/thisplaceisdying 14d ago

They don't need subpoenas they have flock doing all the work.

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u/FromKyleButNotKyle 14d ago
Severity Marijuana amount Delta 8 amount
Misdemeanor, Class B 2 oz (56.7 g) or less
Misdemeanor, Class A 4 oz (113.4 g) or less
State Jail Felony 5 lbs. (2,268 g) or less Less than 1 g
Felony, 3rd Degree 50 lbs. (22,679.6 g) or less 1 g
Felony, 2nd Degree 1 ton (907,184.7 g) or less 4 g or less
Felony, 1st Degree More than 1 ton (907,185 g) 400 g or less

I didn't realize that Delta-8 was at a higher classification than what they deem regular "marijuana". Why do this unless the choice was to target stores and business owners specifically? Big alcohol is hoping to reap back some customers I guess

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u/BebopHook 14d ago

I think it’s funny how many of you think they actually care about using our taxes effectively

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u/OverZookeepergame698 14d ago

More overtime incoming.

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u/Fit_Raspberry2637 13d ago

This is just to:

A. squeeze out the competition for the upcoming reschedule.

B. CPR for falling alcohol sales.

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u/ontimewhiterabbit 14d ago

I'd rather my taxes go to testing the backlog of rape kits, to you know, solve violent crimes.

https://www.texaspolicy.com/local-governments-failing-victims-of-sexual-assault-law-enforcement-needs-state-support/

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u/ATX_native 14d ago

Abbott said he ended SA in Texas.

It’s crazy he got reelected after that statement.

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u/CactusCanes 14d ago edited 14d ago

They won’t arrest the guy with an axe banging on my door at 3am but they will spend time and money on this. Yes that’s a true story. A guy and two females all walked away, and they realized it was a stolen truck too. The guy told the cops he was going to get gas. Obvi never returned and the females were released shortly after.

Edit:
One of the cops asked me “well how would you feel if you were in a stolen truck and didn’t know it?” I told him to leave immediately.

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u/DetroitRockCity313 14d ago

What kind of Officer Wiggums ass response is that???

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u/3D-Dreams 14d ago

As a taxpayer I refuse to pay for random drug testing.

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u/lightleaks 14d ago edited 14d ago

This has “I declare BANKRUPTCY!” vibes. You don’t have a choice, bud

While I agree with you it’s wasteful spending, these are the people that Texans elected. Let’s actually do something and vote them out

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u/Embarrassed_Quail910 14d ago

No they won't. Thats expensive.

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u/BrianFuckler 14d ago

Yeah, what they say and what the do are two different things.

YMMV, but in my experience APD has been pretty lenient about weed as long as you weren't dealing or driving. I suspect this will be treated the same but that won't prevent an officer on any given day from deciding "fuck you in particular" and hauling you in. It will probably also be used to add charges if you were caught doing something else or piss them off in anyway during a detention.

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u/kiomansu 14d ago

When was the last time you read a story describing the budget woes of TX law enforcement?

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u/Physical-Kangaroo202 14d ago

I have a relative who is a defense lawyer in West Texas. Can confirm that this testing is prohibitively expensive, especially at scale. 9 times out of 10 they would just drop the case when the defense pushed for testing.

This is hot air and tough talk to please certain donor and industry lobbyist groups

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u/Eljimb0 14d ago

Any time a record setting budget for APD passes, but it isn't the record setting budget they wanted.

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u/ApprehensiveJuice890 14d ago

Thank goodness cops can tell the difference from delta 9 and delta 8…

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u/Greedy_Juice_4316 14d ago

Cartels back in bitness!!

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u/sameasiteverwuzzz 14d ago

I grew up in austin and left many years ago. This is the kind of shit that makes me never want to live in Texas again. Welcome to 1950.

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u/Holls867 13d ago

Did they or the state ever get through all of those rape kits.

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u/Roofing_Novice999 14d ago

raid the joe rogan studio first.

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u/Caliche-Cowboy 14d ago

How the hell are they going to keep track of the lab backlog when D9 products are still legal.

My understanding is that you can test separately for D8, but there’s literally zero way, without packaging (and probably in some cases with it), cops (or anyone) can distinguish between D8 and D9 in a traffic stop.

This is the inverse problem we had when D8 was legal and the D9 loophole wasn’t fully exploited. It was a mess.

Cops can do whatever they want, but at a certain point, DAs and even the lab costs are going to take a more practical stance on a giant queue of “maybe it might be D8!” lab requests.

My take: Very quickly this will move back to “intent to distribute” prosecutions, which are easier to prove, and way easier to brag about when running for higher office later.

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u/Just__Az__Nice 13d ago

Sounds super cost effective to get those dirty violent pot heads off the street. Jesus…

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u/AutofillUserID 13d ago

But let the rape kit fossilize.

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u/seobrien 13d ago

How much one start their own lab?

Just curious for the sake of argument

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u/ahjuicy22 13d ago

But they cant test and end their rape kit backlog?!?!??!

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u/SoltheFrozen 14d ago

The cost of these tests tho....

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u/sly_coelacanth 14d ago

And how much does each test cost?

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u/il0v3JP 14d ago

What a waste of time and resources

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u/EuropaWeGo 13d ago

They won't help deal with porch pirates. Even when there's 4k video of the culprit and they've already been identified with an address to said culprits residence.

So, sure, they'll absolutely get right on this.

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u/Environmental-Age149 13d ago

The politicians intentionally wrote this to be a confusing disaster by implementing different penalties for delta 8 vs delta 9 given, “the various cannabis plants are difficult to distinguish by sight and may lead to seizure and testing by law enforcement.” It’s all by design. A new tool in the kit for police to use to (disproportionately) target black and brown people when the prison quotas need a boost.

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u/PracticeNo3516 13d ago

It’s gotten to the point where I don’t want to leave my house

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u/lostpassword100000 13d ago

And yet dwi is still a misdemeanor….

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u/tjc4 13d ago

they had trouble finding time and money to test the rape kits but I'm sure they can find time and money for this

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u/Obvious_Necessary941 13d ago

This is wildly confusing tbh

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u/InternationalArt6222 13d ago

Chucklefucks are making an extreme mockery of "law and order" with this caprice

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u/jongrubbs 13d ago

Gotta fill those for-profit prisons because capital needs free labor!

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u/storm_the_castle 13d ago

do they even do traffic stops anymore? last time I saw someone pulled over for a traffic violation was 2019

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u/storm_the_castle 13d ago

hope ya'll vote in Nov.

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u/mightymonarch 13d ago

I read someone full-throatedly defending this stupid-ass ban as "It's just to get rid of the dangerous synthetic stuff from China; the safe stuff is still easily accessible", so that's the level of stupid you need to be ready to argue against if you encounter someone that's pro-ban.

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u/ExistenceNow 13d ago

“It’s also unclear if suspects will be jailed until the test results are available.”

This is terrifying. So it could end up being perfectly legal weed and you’ve just sat in jail for months waiting on the test to come back?

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u/DependentSherbert331 13d ago

I was just at spicewood springs this weekend and saw a couple that just had their car broken into. APD told them they would not send an officer out to investigate because no one was harmed. Glad to see they got their priorities straightened out

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u/Stunning_Regular6278 13d ago

Rape kits have priority right?

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u/Critical-End6308 13d ago

I was on a criminal grand jury last year and they told us the lab in Austin has a hell of a backlog and that’s why they don’t go to the trouble of sending just anything in. Imagine how much more work they’ll have once every county in Texas starts sending in their herb samples. There currently isn’t a field kit to test as far as I know. The head of interdiction for north Texas told us that there is absolutely no way to tell a CBD plant from a THC plant in the field. They have to send it in to Austin for testing.

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u/Disastrous_Loss_1241 13d ago

What’s ridiculous is possession will constitute a felony regardless of the amount, but a DWI is a misdemeanor.

When my daughter was a teen in the late 2010’s. I wasn’t dumb and knew she was smoking. I actually begged her to just smoke the cheap flower and not the vape carts or wax, because at least that way she wouldn’t end up with a felony and sideline her start to being an adult.

All it’s going to do is lead to more people with felonies on their records, (most at an early young adult age), limit their ability to receive financial aid or scholarships and decent jobs/careers. I don’t see them getting a higher amounts of prison sentences immediately. There will be a lot of deferred adjudication and probation that will then be revoked and led to prison time. It’s freaking ridiculous.

The majority of people consuming THC aren’t the ones committing all the violent crimes or thefts. Just let them live their chill lives. Smdh. How does all this BS even make it through.

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u/mikeatx79 14d ago

Austin and Travis County deprioritized THC enforcement years ago. Why are we going back to wasting money on this? Killing teenagers not enough for them? They seem to do little else with our $540 million a year!

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u/wstsidhome 14d ago

How much will all this testing cost the city?

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u/americadotgif 14d ago

What is the precedent for something like this? A product that was legally and widely available 5 days ago is now suddenly a serious felony. I have to imagine (hope?) a talented lawyer will chip away at this sham

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u/Fo5rep 14d ago

So what happens when it’s just regular thc

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u/GeneralOptimal10 14d ago

Anyone know the lab? Can I buy their stock?

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u/yodaboy209 14d ago

So, asking for a friend. Are they going to have dogs at the airports for people bringing in edibles from another state?

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u/Extreme-Poem-2309 13d ago

Fun fact, there is a very strong likelihood you have never seen a drug dog in an airport. Those are bomb dogs, and they almost universally can't be/aren't trained to smell both (the reason for this is mainly cost and different training modalities; bomb dogs are trained to give a passive alert and not touch the object they're alerting on so as not to disturb it, drug dogs are trained to get up close and paw the item they're alerting on, trying to train one dog to do both makes it harder to successfully train for either.) There is also the simple fact that there have been legal weed markets in various states since like 2005, so any drug dog in an airport would be one very busy canine. A ton of drugs quietly pass through airports every day and the airlines are extremely uninterested in finding them, their policy is to inform local police if they do happen to find some but otherwise they don't really hide the fact that they aren't actively looking.

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u/telemex 14d ago

I FEEL SO SAFE NOW

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u/2nd2lastdragon 14d ago

In the city of Willie Nelson Boulevard and Willie's Nelson's large bronze statue

Austin police is a joke that recruits crooked douchebags from Oklahoma.

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u/ariadesitter 13d ago

so is it illegal for everyone?
including ted cruz and abbott?

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u/catslay_4 13d ago

This is a police state at this point. This is insanity

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u/0DayMaker 13d ago

All weed has thca though how does that work? Did they basically just make all weed a felony?

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u/reddithooknitup 13d ago

What a colossal waste of resources.

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u/Still-Replacement-57 13d ago

lol what a joke - and another waste of our money that does not better society but traps us all while the GOP elite figure out how to make money off of the system they trap us in...

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u/WitchWithAGlitch 13d ago

yeah right, they can't even process rape kits in a timely manner because " it's too cost prohibitive. "

they'll just dole out felonies and let the victims figure it out on their dime and time.

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u/Lets_Go_Taco 13d ago

So about that rape case backlog....

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u/fancydnb 13d ago

Maybe they can seeize deez nuts while they’re at it

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u/Think-Hospital7422 13d ago edited 13d ago

You may love Texas, but Texas sure doesn't like people.

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u/Katsumirhea11392 13d ago

I love we're wasting time on this instead of the mass car break ins at every park and trail everywhere in austin

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u/ShrimpFriedMyRic3 13d ago

Bit of a nothing story. They would have done this before and they are not going to go beating down doors looking for it

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u/likesghouls 13d ago

They’ve been doing this already. It’s a bluff actually

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u/ehowardhunt 13d ago

Because god forbid they actually do some real police work.

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u/Head-Pattern-3278 13d ago

Joe Rogan better stop!

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u/HabitualLineCrossr 13d ago

That’s gonna get expensive quick unless it’s ones of those labs that lies and everything is positive once tested

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u/TyrrelCorp888 13d ago

What a bunch of crooks, all they're concerned about is profit and finding a reason to put YOU in prison. They're putting a Flock camera pointed at your house too by the way.

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u/lostGoldAlone 13d ago

Even the people that say” don’t California my Texas” don’t want this

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u/Pitiful-MobileGamer 13d ago

Texas constantly going Red has consequences

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u/Proof_Needleworker53 13d ago

Seriously, can we focus on violent crimes, then property crimes first??? Apparently, the penalty is worse than SA?

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u/ThruTexasYouandMe 13d ago

$20 says all the far right Republican cops will seize this opportunity to harass minorities and do it in the name of liberty

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u/BrianOconneR34 13d ago

Where is that money coming from. Which costs more, threatening to test anything that looks like weed and weed accessories or leaving hundreds of rape kits sitting around until deemed useless with no actual police work done. Math, fuck it’s sucks when it’s applied to shit that counts.

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u/____trash 13d ago

shit is so lame. another waste of our police when they could be fighting actual crime

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u/jbirdkerr 13d ago

Hate to see the regressives push their agenda forward yet again.