The Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office aims to continue ticketing and arresting folks caught with suspected marijuana. Other elected law enforcement heads say they won’t prosecute certain marijuana cases or even make arrests because of a new Texas hemp law. Sheriff Maurice Cook said marijuana is still illegal and while it’s hard to tell the difference between that and legal hemp, deputies still have probable cause.
“And so under those circumstances, we can reasonably believe that if a person has a cannabis plant, that we can reasonably believe that its marijuana…”
That is until, Cook explained, a person presents documents and the proper paperwork per the agricultural code show the plant is legal hemp.
“There’s all kinds of qualifiers there that it makes it a separate offence if they are transporting hemp and its not in compliance.”
(Photo:Shutterstock/Jiri Hera)
