The Harris County District Attorney’s office has stopped prosecuting drug cases that involve a minuscule amount of drugs, which are often referred to as trace cases. The office will be prioritizing more substantial crimes instead in an effort to make better use of their resources.
These cases are those in which cops find drug residue on paraphernalia or crumbs of cocaine, for example. The new policy has been quietly in place since July.
District Attorney Kim Ogg says there were anywhere between 2,000-4,000 cases involving trace amounts of drugs per year, and she feels there are better ways to use the office’s resources. She says the system doesn’t have adequate resources to focus on this type of case, especially after law enforcement stopped using roadside field tests to determine if certain substances were drugs.
This is Ogg’s second major drug reform. In March she stopped prosecuting misdemeanor marijuana cases in favor of offering a diversion program.
Source: Houstonpress.com, “The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has stopped prosecuting cases involving minuscule amounts of drugs — often referred to as ‘trace cases,'” by Meagan Flynn, September 27, 2017