The Law in West Texas Breaks the Law to Protest Weed's Prohibition

New York Times

2 days ago

A Republican district attorney in West Texas recorded herself smoking marijuana on Saturday and posted it live on social media in an unusually direct and legally perilous protest against the state's ban on recreational use of the drug.
The district attorney, Sarah Stogner, is not a typical Texas Republican, and the social media stunt was not her first.
She propelled herself to statewide notoriety in 2022 with a similarly audacious bid for attention, a campaign ad in which she rode nearly naked on an oil field pump jack. She lost the race, for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, but gained the attention of Republican operatives looking for candidates in far-flung corners of the state — even if she didn't fit so well with the party's traditional social conservatism.
She's at it again. Saturday's livestream on TikTok showed Ms. Stogner under a tree outside her home in Ward County, Texas, smoking a joint that she said she had purchased legally at a dispensary over the border in New Mexico. Roosters were heard crowing in the background.
Her goal was to draw the attention of Texas lawmakers who are considering a ban on hemp products loaded with T.H.C., the intoxicant in marijuana, during a special legislative session in Austin.
'I don't think there should be a ban on anything' when it comes to marijuana, Ms. Stogner said in an interview before recording the video. 'Texans are tired of it. We're behind the times.'
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