LUBBOCK, Texas— Freedom Act Lubbock announced Wednesday morning its local petition initiative to “decriminalize possession” of small amounts of marijuana within the city limits has surpassed the amount of signatures collected.
According to a press release, the petition has about 8,800 signatures and “the required number of signatures needed for the Freedom Act Lubbock petition… is 4,800” according to the city rules.
Signatures will be due on October 17th, said the release.
“We are extremely proud of all of the volunteers on our team, and everyone else who is helping us collect signatures,” said Adam Hernandez, Communications Chair for Lubbock Compact.
Hernandez said the organization has one week left “before we have to turn them in” and plans to turn in about 10,000 signatures on the deadline.
Additionally, the release stated, the Sanctuary City for the Unborn petition “needed to collect 3,651 signatures.” The organizers of the initiative will turn in a total of 5,780 at the end of its campaign.
The city charter allowed 60 days for collecting signatures for any petition initiative, the release added.
Data from the signature collection process for marijuana decriminalization for Freedom Act Lubbock showed “widespread support across the city,” said the release.
Hernandez said a heat map showed “where in the city our signatures are coming from and it shows that people in every part of the city support this measure.”
Freedom Act Lubbock will hold two events to give anyone who has been collecting signatures on their own an opportunity to turn them in to be included in the final count.
The first opportunity will be on Wednesday from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at 2nd Chance Books at 4206 50th Street. The final opportunity will be on Saturday at Mano Negra Brewing Company at 2610 Salem Avenue.
According to the release, the organization will be at several events to collect signatures until the deadline.
“We still need your signature because some will be thrown out for various reasons, and we want to make sure we have the required amount of valid signatures.” said Hernandez, “We also need to show city leaders how much support this petition has.”
For more information and to see event locations visit, Freedomactlubbock.org.
