Possessing a usable quantity of marijuana, knowingly or intentionally, is an offense under Texas Health & Safety Code Section 481.121, and the amount sets the grade.¹ More than two ounces up to four ounces is a Class A misdemeanor, the highest misdemeanor grade, punishable by up to one year in the county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.² It is one weight tier above the Class B charge most marijuana cases begin at, and the higher jail ceiling is the practical difference.

What makes a marijuana case different from almost any other misdemeanor is that the State now has to prove what the plant material actually is. After the 2019 hemp law, Texas defines marijuana by its Delta-9 THC concentration, and material at or below the legal threshold is hemp, not marijuana. Because marijuana and legal hemp cannot be told apart by sight or by smell, the Bexar County laboratory quantifies the Delta-9 THC in a submitted sample, and the weighed amount only matters once the material is confirmed to be marijuana at all.

Marijuana possession is one statute with a sliding scale set by weight, and the same conduct can be charged anywhere from a Class B misdemeanor to a first-degree felony. These are the variants the charge turns on.

The weight ladder

Section 481.121 grades possession by amount: two ounces or less is a Class B misdemeanor;³ more than two ounces up to four ounces is the Class A misdemeanor charged here;¹ more than four ounces up to five pounds is a state jail felony;⁴ more than five pounds up to 50 pounds is a third-degree felony; more than 50 pounds up to 2,000 pounds is a second-degree felony; and more than 2,000 pounds is a first-degree felony.¹ Because four ounces is the line between a misdemeanor and a state jail felony, an accurate weight is decisive when the alleged amount sits near the top of this tier.

When the charge is delivery rather than possession

Possession and delivery are separate offenses. Delivery of marijuana is charged under a different section and is graded on its own scale by amount,⁵ and an allegation of delivery, or of possession with intent to deliver, raises the exposure well above a Class A possession. How the State has characterized the conduct is a threshold question.

What the plant material has to be

Because the offense requires marijuana rather than hemp, the substance identification is itself a variant in every case. The laboratory has to confirm the Delta-9 THC concentration that makes the material marijuana under Texas law before the weight grade means anything, which is why the analytical record is read as closely as the offense report.

Most people charged with Class A marijuana possession have never been in a criminal courtroom. They are students, service and trade workers, nurses, teachers, and people stopped on an ordinary traffic call. For them the surprise is not the fine; it is everything that attaches to a drug conviction in Texas.

The consequences follow the person well past the courthouse. For a noncitizen, a conviction for a controlled-substance offense can be a basis for removal under federal immigration law.⁶ A marijuana conviction also carries a separate driver's license suspension, can cost federal student financial aid, and can affect eligibility for public housing, none of which is decided by the criminal court but all of which follows from the conviction. That collateral exposure is what makes the disposition of the case matter.

The one-year ceiling and the $4,000 fine in Section 12.21 are only the criminal side of the exposure.² A drug conviction is a record that does not fade, and it reads, to employers, landlords, licensing boards, and immigration authorities, as a controlled-substance conviction.⁶ A conviction also brings a driver's license suspension and can reach federal student aid and public-housing eligibility, consequences that are separate from anything the criminal court imposes.

There are paths that avoid a final conviction. Bexar County runs a misdemeanor pretrial diversion program that, on successful completion, ends in dismissal and the chance to clear the record. For people who are eligible, Texas also allows deferred adjudication under Article 42A.102, which avoids a final conviction on successful completion.⁷ Whether either path fits a given case is a fact-specific question answered from the record, not a promise.

A marijuana case is built out of two records above all: how the material was found, and what the laboratory says it is. What a person does in the first days affects both. The most common and most costly mistake is talking the officers through the stop, the car, or the bag without a lawyer present, because those statements are written down and used.

A few steps help in nearly every case. Say nothing about the material or the search beyond identifying information, and ask for a lawyer. Write down everything remembered about the stop while it is fresh: where it happened, what was said, whether consent to search was asked for or given, and who was present. Keep every document from the arrest or citation. Do not contact anyone the police mention as a witness.

This is general information about how these cases work in Texas. It is not legal advice about any specific case, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

A Class A marijuana case in Bexar County follows a predictable path. Knowing the order of events makes the process less frightening and the decision points easier to see.

Arrest or citation and magistration

A marijuana case can begin with an arrest or with a citation to appear. Where there is an arrest, the person is brought before a magistrate who gives the statutory warnings and sets bond, ordinarily within 48 hours, under Article 15.17.⁸

Filing in a County Court at Law

The Bexar County Criminal District Attorney files the charge into one of the Bexar County Courts at Law, which have jurisdiction over Class A and B misdemeanors.⁹ Filings move through the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center on Dolorosa Street,¹⁰ and the case is prosecuted from the Paul Elizondo Tower across the plaza.¹¹

Waiting on the laboratory

Because the State has to prove the material is marijuana and not hemp, many cases pause while the Bexar County laboratory completes Delta-9 THC quantification and confirms the weight. Until that analytical record exists, the case is not ready, and that timing is part of how the case is managed.

Pretrial settings and discovery

The case proceeds through a series of pretrial settings. The State's evidence, the offense report, the body-worn camera video, and the laboratory analytical record, is produced under the discovery statute, Article 39.14.¹²

Resolution

A Class A marijuana case can resolve by dismissal, by suppression of the search, through the county's misdemeanor pretrial diversion program, by deferred adjudication where a person is eligible under Article 42A.102,⁷ or at trial. Which routes are realistic depends on the record.

A marijuana case does not carry the fast administrative clock a DWI does, but timing still decides what evidence survives and what options remain open.

Forrest Good PLLC works a Class A marijuana case in the same documented order regardless of the amount. The first pass is the Fourth Amendment timeline: the reason for the stop, the scope of the detention, the scope of any search, whether there was consent or a warrant, and whether the stated probable cause survives the reality that marijuana and legal hemp cannot be identified by sight or by smell. The body-worn camera and dash-camera video are the primary record of what happened, and the offense report is read against that video rather than the other way around.

The second pass is the chemistry. The Bexar County laboratory analytical record carries the substance identification, the testing method, the Delta-9 THC quantification that decides whether the material is marijuana at all, the weight that decides whether it sits below the four-ounce felony line, and the chain of custody from seizure to seal to the analyst's bench. The third pass is the motion calendar: a motion to suppress the search, discovery enforcement under Article 39.14,¹² and motions in limine. The fourth pass is resolution: pretrial diversion eligibility against the Bexar County District Attorney's published criteria, conditional dismissal, deferred adjudication under Article 42A.102,⁷ a plea to a reduced charge, or trial. Each option carries its own immigration, licensing, and record consequences, which the client decides on after Forrest Good PLLC walks through what each one means.

The hour estimate

Forrest Good PLLC estimates this matter at 12 to 22 hours of attorney time, billed at $250 per hour. The lower end reflects a case that resolves early, often through pretrial diversion or on a clean weight and laboratory result; the upper end reflects a contested search, an independent review of the laboratory work, a weight dispute near the four-ounce line, suppression motion practice, and extended pretrial settings. The pricing methodology explains how the charging instrument, the evidence load, and the procedural stakes drive the estimate.

The flat fee and what it covers

The starting flat fee is $5,000. It covers magistration follow-up and bond conditions, every pretrial setting in the County Court at Law, review of the offense report and the laboratory analytical record including the Delta-9 THC quantification and weight verification, the Fourth Amendment timeline, full pretrial motion practice including suppression and discovery enforcement under Article 39.14,¹² and pretrial diversion screening through trial-court disposition. The fee shown here is honored while this page is published, consistent with Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 7.02(d).¹⁴

Any work outside the scoped fee is billed at $250 per hour and is disclosed in the written engagement letter before it begins. The engagement letter is the binding contract for the matter.

The first step is a conversation. The initial 30-minute consultation with Forrest Good PLLC is free and is scheduled through the office's Google Booking page. It is the time to walk through the stop, the search, the offense report, and the laboratory record, and to look at where the weight sits relative to the four-ounce felony line before any setting. Bringing those documents makes the half hour far more useful.

No attorney-client relationship is formed until a written engagement letter is signed; the consultation itself carries no obligation.

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