Dallas, Texas - Texas' Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking legal action after the people of Dallas voted to decriminalize marijuana.

"Cities cannot pick and choose which State laws they follow. The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," Paxton said in a statement as he announced a new lawsuit aiming to block the decriminalization ordinance.

"This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office," he added.

This November 5, residents of Texas' third-largest city voted in favor of Proposition R, also known as the Dallas Freedom Act.

The ballot measure, spearheaded by the nonprofit Ground Game Texas, "prohibits the Dallas Police Department from making arrests or issuing citations for marijuana possession or considering the odor of marijuana as probable cause for search or seizure, except as part of a violent felony or high priority narcotics felony investigation."

Paxton argued that the city charter amendment violates the Texas Local Government Code's ban on any political subdivision adopting "a policy under which the entity will not fully enforce laws relating to drugs."

"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has decided to once again waste taxpayer money to litigate another local marijuana decriminalization measure. The Dallas Freedom Act was passed by over 67% of voters. He’s already lost in Travis and Hays Counties. He’s going to keep taking L’s like the Cowboys," Texas Cannabis Collective posted on X, with reference to Dallas' struggling NFL team.

Last January, Paxton announced lawsuits against the cities of Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin, and Denton after they adopted marijuana decriminalization measures. The suits against San Marcos and Austin have been dismissed, but advocates expect the attorney general to appeal those rulings.