KILLEEN, Texas — A growing number of people are working to decriminalize marijuana in Killeen and Harker Heights, Texas.

When Yudit was arrested for possessing less than two ounces of marijuana in Killeen, it changed her life forever. 

"Extremely devastating," Yudit said. "Not only financially, but emotionally. I don't drive at night. It's so traumatic for me."

Yudit and her friend Hannah are among the people who have signed petitions to decriminalize possession of marijuana in Killeen and Harker Heights.

"Very frustrating," Hannah said. "Because like I said, there's a lot of other crimes that need to be taken care of, like a lot of the violence that happens here in Killeen."

Community groups and leaders like former Mayor Pro Tem Shirley Fleming and candidate for county commissioner Louie Minor are collecting signatures to get the initiative on the November ballot. 

"It's going to let the police department and the city leaders know that something is wrong here in the city with marijuana enforcement that they need to address, either through this ordinance or through training," Minor said. 

If approved, the initiative would amend the Killeen city code to decriminalize low-level marijuana offenses.

Julie Oliver is the executive director of Ground Game Texas. The group successfully gathered enough signatures to get an initiative to decriminalize marijuana on the ballot for Austin voters in May.

They're trying to do the same in Killeen 

"An arrest and conviction could mean lack of employment opportunities, lack of housing opportunities, lack of, you know, being able to go to the school of your choice. So it really does have really dire consequences when folks are arrested for low-level possession cases," Oliver said.

While Killeen Mayor Jose Segarra respects the voters' rights to push for what they believe in, he does not back the campaign.

"When you do that, guess what it's going to attract? More crime," Segarra said. "It doesn't deter it, so anything like that, anything we can do to try to detract from increasing crime, I'm all for it. And I don't think this is a good idea."

We received this statement from Chief Charles Kimble:

"The Killeen Police Department does not support to decriminalize marijuana and we will continue to follow the statute, Texas Health and Safety Code 481.121 - Possession of Marijuana, which is the Texas State Law."

Minor says they have gathered more than 250 signatures for Killeen and 100 for Harker Heights. 

Representatives from Ground Game Texas say they need 1,250 verified signatures in Killeen and 350 verified signatures in Harker Heights to qualify to get on the ballot.