AUSTIN — Wendy Davis, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, says she believes Texas should allow medical marijuana and would consider downgrading pot possession from a criminal offense to a civil matter.

“I personally believe that medical marijuana should be allowed for,” Davis told the Dallas Morning News’ editorial board Tuesday. “I don’t know where the state is on that, as a population. Certainly as governor I think it’s important to be deferential to whether the state of Texas feels that it’s ready for that.”

The Fort Worth Democrat said she doesn’t know how she would vote on a theoretical constitutional amendment to legalize the drug. But, she said it might be wise to see how Washington and Colorado, two states where voters have voted to legalize marijuana, handle the new designation.

“From a philosophical position, do I have any objections to the fact that citizens might want to legalize marijuana? No, I don’t,” Davis told the editorial board. “But I think watching to see how this experiment plays out in other states is probably advisable before I could tell you for sure.”

In January, Gov. Rick Perry told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that he supports decriminalizing marijuana. A Perry spokesperson said the governor does not favor legalizing the drug, but wants to lower penalties for users.

“I do believe that Gov. Perry’s approach is a reasonable approach, that we as a state need to think about the cost of that incarceration and, obviously, the cost to the taxpayers as a consequence of it, and whether we’re really solving any problem for the state by virtue of incarcerations for small amounts of marijuana possession,” Davis said.

Republican Greg Abbott’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.