HUMBOLDT — The county has renewed its acceptance of marijuana eradication funding from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Board of Supervisors' newest members explained their stances on the sometimes controversial grant agreement.
Supervisors Mark Lovelace and Clif Clendenen both joined a unanimous vote in favor of accepting $180,000 of the DEA funding at the April 21 board meeting. And both newcomers were expected to explain their votes, as former supervisors John Woolley and Roger Rodoni habitually argued against the funding as a show of support for legalizing marijuana.
During public comment, Tad Robinson said marijuana enforcement creates more problems than it solves and he argued against taking the DEA money. "The only problems caused by this drug are problems because of its illegality," he told supervisors. "Because people know somebody's spending $180,000 to hunt them down, they're doing weirder things — they're renting apartments and redoing the wiring and they're doing diesel grows out in the middle of nowhere."
Those impacts were central to Lovelace's support for taking the enforcement funding, which pays for deputies' salaries and overtime.
He said that when he campaigned door to door in the Third District, the most talked-about issue was the impacts of illegal and "quasi-legal" grows on neighborhoods.
A "tremendous number" of people who support medical use and total legalization of marijuana are "directly impacted by the illegal cultivation of it and by the unregulated aspects of this quasi-legal cultivation, this gray area that we're in right now," Lovelace continued. "So even people who strongly support legalization recognize that we have serious law enforcement needs under the current situation and we can't just ignore those, or else we're denying people their ability to address these problems."
He acknowledged the contradiction of calling for legalization and enforcement simultaneously. "I think that currently, we're stuck," Lovelace said. "We're stuck in a situation where we're in a gray area and where there are these impacts... we can't simply make a sweeping decision that we're not going to enforce because people are going to be hurt by that decision."
Earlier, Board Chairman Jimmy Smith said that the DEA money will also be used for methamphetamine enforcement. Clendenen also mentioned that "this is actually shared funding for meth eradication" when he explained his support for the grant but the claim was later shown to be only marginally true.
Undersheriff Mike Downey, who was informed of the discussion and called into supervisors' chambers, said meth is only relevant when it's found during marijuana investigations. But he did back up Clendenen's claim that the DEA funding pays for enforcement in "the most egregious cases."
Answering Lovelace's questions, Downey said the county's Drug Enforcement Unit is "focusing more on the commercial, large-scale grower" whose cultivation habits become community nuisances.
"The 215 issue obviously has impacted the direction that we go with this program because we're not going to waste valuable time or resources dealing with an issue that's already been decided by the voters," he continued.
Supervisors unanimously approved the DEA funding. A written agreement outlining how the money will be used specifies that enforcement will be carried out "solely at Humboldt County's discretion."
Later, during the meeting's open public comment session, former Arcata Councilmember Paul Pitino asked supervisors for a letter of support for Assembly Bill 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act. It seeks to legalize marijuana and regulate it similarly to alcohol.
Pitino wants supervisors to ask Assemblymember Wes Chesbro to support the bill, which is sponsored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano.
He said legalizing marijuana will stop us from "criminalizing ourselves, our kids and enlarging the Mexican Mafia much like prohibition did for the Italian Mafia — if we read history we know that we're repeating it right here, we're Appalachia, making moonshine."
News Hawk: MsRedEye: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Arcata Eye
Author: Daniel Mintz
Copyright: 2009 The Arcata Eye
Contact: Arcata Eye :: The mildly objectionable weekly newspaper for Arcata, California (pagesetter)
Website: Arcata Eye :: The mildly objectionable weekly newspaper for Arcata, California (pagesetter)
Supervisors Mark Lovelace and Clif Clendenen both joined a unanimous vote in favor of accepting $180,000 of the DEA funding at the April 21 board meeting. And both newcomers were expected to explain their votes, as former supervisors John Woolley and Roger Rodoni habitually argued against the funding as a show of support for legalizing marijuana.
During public comment, Tad Robinson said marijuana enforcement creates more problems than it solves and he argued against taking the DEA money. "The only problems caused by this drug are problems because of its illegality," he told supervisors. "Because people know somebody's spending $180,000 to hunt them down, they're doing weirder things — they're renting apartments and redoing the wiring and they're doing diesel grows out in the middle of nowhere."
Those impacts were central to Lovelace's support for taking the enforcement funding, which pays for deputies' salaries and overtime.
He said that when he campaigned door to door in the Third District, the most talked-about issue was the impacts of illegal and "quasi-legal" grows on neighborhoods.
A "tremendous number" of people who support medical use and total legalization of marijuana are "directly impacted by the illegal cultivation of it and by the unregulated aspects of this quasi-legal cultivation, this gray area that we're in right now," Lovelace continued. "So even people who strongly support legalization recognize that we have serious law enforcement needs under the current situation and we can't just ignore those, or else we're denying people their ability to address these problems."
He acknowledged the contradiction of calling for legalization and enforcement simultaneously. "I think that currently, we're stuck," Lovelace said. "We're stuck in a situation where we're in a gray area and where there are these impacts... we can't simply make a sweeping decision that we're not going to enforce because people are going to be hurt by that decision."
Earlier, Board Chairman Jimmy Smith said that the DEA money will also be used for methamphetamine enforcement. Clendenen also mentioned that "this is actually shared funding for meth eradication" when he explained his support for the grant but the claim was later shown to be only marginally true.
Undersheriff Mike Downey, who was informed of the discussion and called into supervisors' chambers, said meth is only relevant when it's found during marijuana investigations. But he did back up Clendenen's claim that the DEA funding pays for enforcement in "the most egregious cases."
Answering Lovelace's questions, Downey said the county's Drug Enforcement Unit is "focusing more on the commercial, large-scale grower" whose cultivation habits become community nuisances.
"The 215 issue obviously has impacted the direction that we go with this program because we're not going to waste valuable time or resources dealing with an issue that's already been decided by the voters," he continued.
Supervisors unanimously approved the DEA funding. A written agreement outlining how the money will be used specifies that enforcement will be carried out "solely at Humboldt County's discretion."
Later, during the meeting's open public comment session, former Arcata Councilmember Paul Pitino asked supervisors for a letter of support for Assembly Bill 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act. It seeks to legalize marijuana and regulate it similarly to alcohol.
Pitino wants supervisors to ask Assemblymember Wes Chesbro to support the bill, which is sponsored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano.
He said legalizing marijuana will stop us from "criminalizing ourselves, our kids and enlarging the Mexican Mafia much like prohibition did for the Italian Mafia — if we read history we know that we're repeating it right here, we're Appalachia, making moonshine."
News Hawk: MsRedEye: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Arcata Eye
Author: Daniel Mintz
Copyright: 2009 The Arcata Eye
Contact: Arcata Eye :: The mildly objectionable weekly newspaper for Arcata, California (pagesetter)
Website: Arcata Eye :: The mildly objectionable weekly newspaper for Arcata, California (pagesetter)
