In a number of big cities across Texas — including Austin — a ticket, rather than a trip to jail, already is a standard penalty for low-volume marijuana possession, and the criminal charge often is eligible to be dismissed entirely.

Statewide, however, opposition to loosening marijuana prohibitions and penalties still runs deep among many in law enforcement. The point was driven home Tuesday during a presentation at the Capitol by about two dozen Texas police chiefs and sheriffs, who urged lawmakers and the public to keep the state a bulwark against the national marijuana legalization movement.

Austin Police Chief Brian Manley did not participate in the event, nor did police chiefs from Houston, Dallas or San Antonio — all major metro areas that either have or are in the process of implementing "cite and release" procedures for low-volume pot possession. Reached later, Manley said he agrees with the police concerns voiced Tuesday — but said he also backs Austin's program to divert low-volume offenders from jail.

Texas must "resist the billion-dollar pro-marijuana industry's agenda to progressively desensitize the public to this very addictive and dangerous drug," Steve Dye, Grand Prairie police chief and a member of the Texas Police Chiefs Association, said during the presentation.

Dye and other participants accused marijuana proponents in Texas of trying to follow a "road map to full legalization" that they said has been deployed in other states. They said the effort begins by pushing for increased availability of medical marijuana and decriminalization of low-volume possession — both of which Texas marijuana advocates have made priorities this legislative session — then back full legalization after those initial goals have been achieved.

"We oppose the full legalization of marijuana, and we oppose the lowering of any of the criminal penalties for possession of marijuana," Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said.

The police chiefs and sheriffs who turned out Tuesday were predominately from suburban and rural areas of the state, making it unclear where some law enforcement officials from more urban areas of Texas stand. Programs to divert low-volume marijuana offenders from jail, and even eliminate the potential for criminal records, have been implemented in a number of Texas metro areas, in part to avoid overcrowding of jails and to conserve police resources.

Manley, reached by phone after the event, said Austin police "almost always cite and release" in low-volume cases, even though he also voiced support for the chiefs association's opposition to marijuana legalization.

Todd Hunter, who leads the Kilgore Police Department and is president of the police chiefs association, said Tuesday that — despite their absence — others among his big-city counterparts also agree with his association's marijuana positions but are muzzled from saying so for political reasons.

"Because of their mayors and city managers, they're not able to be here today," Hunter said, in response to a question. "A lot of other police chiefs would like to be here."

A spokeswoman for Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall said Hall hasn't taken any position on the marijuana-related bills introduced in the Legislature this session and "understands that the need exists for alternatives to incarceration for smaller quantities of marijuana possession."

Hall's focus is "directed towards reducing violent crime in the city of Dallas," she said.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo — formerly Austin's police chief — didn't respond to messages left seeking comment. He helped implement Austin's cite-and-release program, however, and backed implementation of a similar program in Houston

Marijuana for medical purposes has been legalized in nearly three dozen states — including all four states bordering Texas — while 10 states also allow adult recreational use. Texas lawmakers’ lone foray into legalization, a medical cannabis bill called the Compassionate Use Act approved in 2015, is so restrictive and serves so few patients that it isn’t viewed nationally as a significant medical cannabis program.

But Texas marijuana proponents have expressed optimism that progress will be made this year, particularly in the areas of increased availability of medical marijuana and decriminalization of low-volume pot possession.

House Bill 63 — which would decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of marijuana by making it a civil offense punishable by a $250 fine — was approved on a 5-2 vote by the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee this week, making it eligible to be scheduled for a debate and vote by the full body.

Jax Finkel, executive director of Texas NORML, the state's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, attended the police chief's presentation Tuesday and called it anti-marijuana "propaganda."

She also disputed the notion that her group and other marijuana advocates are operating according to a predetermined strategy designed to achieve full Texas legalization.

"There is no game plan," Finkel said. "The only plan is to stop the bleeding," in terms of ending the prevalence of low-level marijuana offenders ending up with life-altering criminal records.