Marijuana cases come up all the time in League City and across Galveston County, and the people I talk to after an arrest usually come in with a few ideas about the law that just aren't right. Some of those ideas get people arrested. Others keep them from seeing the defenses they actually have. Here are the five myths I hear most.
Myth 1: "Galveston County follows different marijuana laws."
The law is the same here as in the rest of Texas. Possession of marijuana is against the law of the State of Texas, and that includes Galveston County.
What changes from county to county is enforcement. An amount of marijuana that wouldn't get you arrested in Harris County or Dallas County can get you arrested here. The law is the same. How it's enforced is not.
Myth 2: "I have a medical marijuana card from another state, so I'm fine."
An out-of-state medical marijuana license is not enough. You can't just hand it to the officer and expect them to leave you alone.
Texas has its own version of medical marijuana, called the Compassionate Use Program. To be part of it, you have to see a licensed medical professional in Texas and be administered marijuana through that program. And if you're traveling with it, how it's labeled and stored matters. If it's sitting in the cup holder and all you have is your word that you have a license, that may not be enough to avoid an arrest, especially in Galveston County.
Myth 3: "It's only marijuana, so it's only a misdemeanor."
In Galveston County, possession is a misdemeanor if it's four ounces or less. Anything more than four ounces is a felony.
The lowest-level felony is a state jail felony. The punishment range for a state jail felony is a minimum of six months and up to two years in a state jail. That's a big jump from a misdemeanor, and four ounces is not a lot.
The consequences don't stop at the sentence, either. A marijuana conviction can mean a driver's license suspension, and it can show up on background checks run by employers, housing authorities and private landlords.
Myth 4: "They found it in the car, so it's mine."
Not necessarily. One of the most common defenses in a marijuana case is that you weren't in possession of it. There's a lot of case law on what "possession" means. The starting point most defense attorneys and prosecutors agree on is care, custody and control. But once you break down how the State ties marijuana to one specific person, there are a lot of issues that can come up.
The second big defense is that what was found isn't marijuana at all. It's hemp.
Myth 5: "Hemp and marijuana are the same thing to the State."
Industrial hemp is also the plant Cannabis sativa L. The only way to tell the two apart is THC content: marijuana has to be greater than 0.3% THC. Hemp is the same plant with low THC.
It used to be that the lab would look at the plant under a microscope and say, "Yes, this is Cannabis sativa L." That's not enough anymore. The prosecutors have to prove it isn't industrial hemp, which means there has to be a lab test of the THC content in a possession of marijuana case. If the flower or wax that was found isn't over that line, it's not marijuana.
There's more room to fight than people think
One last myth: "If I don't take the first deal, I'm stuck." There are real ways out of a marijuana case in Galveston County.
Getting the evidence. Under Article 39.14 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, the Michael Morton Act, the State has to give us the evidence in the case. That includes body camera footage, which can show exactly how the officer searched the vehicle, and dash camera footage, which may show the traffic violation didn't happen the way the officer said. It includes the lab results on THC content. And the State has a duty to preserve and disclose evidence that's good for the defendant.
Discovery comes in waves. First some basic paperwork, then later the body cameras, dash cameras and lab results. It can take four to six months, and we've had cases take a year. Often several officers respond and only one or two submit their body camera video. I'm not going to have a client take an offer before we've looked at all of it.
Getting it dropped. If the police don't follow proper search and seizure rules, a marijuana case can be dropped. Sometimes that happens informally, when I work the issue out with the prosecutors. Sometimes it takes a formal hearing on a motion to suppress, with witnesses cross-examined in front of the judge. If that ruling goes our way, the case can be dismissed that way too.
Diversion. Galveston County has a pretrial intervention program, PTIP for short. You and your attorney apply for it formally. If the prosecutor lets you in, you're not pleading guilty on any paperwork filed with the court. It's an agreement between you, your attorney and the Galveston County District Attorney's Office to work out the case without a formal probation.
The short version
The marijuana law in League City is the same Texas law everywhere else follows, but it's enforced more strictly than in some big counties. An out-of-state card won't protect you, more than four ounces is a felony, and the State has to prove both possession and THC content over 0.3%. Between discovery, suppression issues and PTIP, there's usually more room to fight than people think.
This post is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice.