Support Your Local Sheriff: Marijuana Speech #20

20 ^th speech in this series to the Josephine County Commissioners, November 25, 2009.  

Another reason you should pass A Resolution Regarding Marijuana, urging the legislature to pass the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, is that this is a fast-moving issue, and you ought to give the legislature your support for a better idea before they do something that will only prolong our troubles with weed.

The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act was 2008’s Measure 28, but it never made the ballot, because hardly anyone, including me, bothered to read it; it was a presidential election year.  The legislature is currently considering this year’s Measure 28, which is not half so ambitious; it would only tweak our medical marijuana system, retaining the medical privilege that is so problematic for law enforcement, and unjust for the rest of us.

Last Thursday, an AP article appeared in the Oregonian, headlined, “Former US Attorney favors drug law review.”  John McKay, former U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, has joined the chorus of ex-cops, former prosecutors, retired judges, and even some currently office-holding officials like Sheriff Richard Mack and Congressman Ron Paul, calling for major changes in our drug laws, particularly regarding marijuana.

McKay appeared at a recent panel discussion of drug laws, where he and others decried the lack of courage on the part of legislators and other elected officials, who are afraid of being labeled “soft on crime” if they favor repealing “stupid laws,” as McKay called the laws banning cannabis.  He said that pot should be treated a lot more like liquor, and a lot less like heroin and meth.

Not all of our local elected officials are cowards on this issue.  At last Tuesday’s meeting of the John Birch Society, our Sheriff, Gil Gilbertson, told us, “Marijuana should be treated just like liquor.”  The crowd, a room full of our local constitutional conservatives, applauded loudly.

Our elected officials should stop being afraid of being labeled “soft-on-crime” and start fearing being called “stupid-on-crime.”  The people have come to realize that there is only so much money available for law enforcement, and that laws against personal habits interfere with enforcing laws against real crime—especially when the state and feds subsidize the enforcement of stupid laws, but not of real laws against theft and assault.

We are soon going to have to pay for our own law enforcement in this county.  It would be easier to get the voters to give the Sheriff and DA money if they had fewer stupid laws to distract them from the business of fighting real crime.  Please ask the legislature to start by passing the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, so our many pot users and growers can sleep easier at night, knowing that the cops are not going after them.

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener         541-955-9040         rycke@gardener.com