MONAHANS, Texas — Ward County District Attorney Sarah Stogner said she has no regrets about posting a TikTok video that appeared to show her smoking marijuana.

“Absolutely,” Stogner said when asked if she would do it again. “Because it raises awareness, and I’m a nobody from nowhere. With social media and the ability to have a voice, that’s how you have a voice.”

Stogner, the elected district attorney for the 143rd Judicial District of Texas, posted the clip in protest of Texas’ marijuana laws and a proposed ban on hemp-derived THC. She said she purchased the joint legally at a dispensary in New Mexico, where recreational marijuana is legal.

Recreational marijuana remains illegal in Texas, though there are limited medical exceptions.

“I’m tired of our elected officials not doing what’s best for the people on the ground,” she said. “We’ve got real crimes to prosecute — oilfield theft, rape, murder — and right now we can’t enforce the law as written on marijuana because of testing requirements.”

Stogner said her goal was to draw attention to what she views as misplaced priorities in law enforcement.

“If we want to protect kids, then we need to legalize and regulate it, and we need to tax it — just like we do with alcohol,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Stogner has attracted attention. In 2022, she went viral for a nearly nude campaign ad while running for the Texas Railroad Commission. She lost that race but said the unconventional approach was intentional.

“We’re out here in the middle of nowhere, and people forget about us,” she said. “The goal was to draw attention to an issue that maybe traditional media hasn’t been covering.”

When asked about possible political fallout from her own Republican Party, Stogner said she considers herself an outsider.

“I’m a lifelong constitutional conservative, but I don’t take orders very well,” she said. “Maybe politically there could be blowback, but the party doesn’t give me support now.”

She supports decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level and believes Texas should follow states like Oklahoma and Mississippi in expanding medical programs. Ultimately, she said, she wants it fully legalized.

“Lawmakers are not law enforcement,” Stogner said. “For law enforcement, I want them to be able to focus on real violent crimes. And to lawmakers — listen to your constituents in the polls and stop listening to your donors.”