Month-long Pot Probe Results in Three Arrests

This sort of crime could be reduced dramatically if we would legalize marijuana.

Our current marijuana laws are impossible to enforce. Despite decades of marijuana eradication and despite arresting 800,000 people a year, pot is still easier to buy for most high school kids than beer.

Keeping marijuana illegal does not benefit our children. It benefits special interest groups: drug cartels, the prison industry, police departments, and government bureaucracies.

It is immoral to prevent responsible adults from choosing to use a less harmful substance in place of alcohol. If pot were legalized, alcohol use would decrease along with its associated social costs.

If you want marijuana to be legalized, taxed, and regulated for adults, YOU can make it happen. Tell your legislators to support California Assembly Bill 390. It's easy. Visit yes390.org

What an absurd waste of resources, Santa Barbara Sheriffs: shame on you. Can't you find some real criminals?

Coffee, brewed from a plant, is working man's cocaine.
Cigarettes, rolled from a plant, is cancer's delight.
Alcohol from grains causes more death than MJ.
We have all heard these comments and arguments for too many years.
Drop these charges. Stick with the hard drugs that destroy self and others. Mary Jane never robbed a stored, molested a kid, used guns, but did hold responsible jobs. Legalize it and tax it. You want money for the state's depleted treasury, here it is. Instead of paying money to arrest, convict, and put them in jail, tax them for their produce.
Sheriff Brown does a good job, but I want him to leave the marijuana cases unenforced.
Arresting someone because they grow and smoke a harmless plant that commits no destruction of self or others while other major crimes against person and property go unchecked is like arresting someone because of the slant of their eyes and putting them in a squirrel cage until the end of the war. Both are arrests because of a crime not committed, but an undemonstrated, unproven, prejudicial fear.
What next, Elliott Ness spraying bullets while crashing through garage doors?
If anything can teach us that we are too close to fascist type police state tactics where victimless crimes are punished, this is it.

I'm sure you've all seen the show "cops" or some reality show where law enforcement goes around and answers 9-1-1 calls. On these shows, you see situations where someone gets drunk and violent and has to be restrained. How many times have you seen people get violent while under the influence of marijuana and nothing more?

Ideally, people should live a life of complete sobriety, but just as prohibition failed, so is criminalizing this herb.

Psilocybin... mushrooms... ya, lets arrest people for possessing mushrooms, too.. that makes a lot of sense.

But think about all of the jobless narcs and prison guards guys. Different role same stuff.

I do have to pause though, because if it is made a medical problem, just think of the patients and profits. The devil you know and the one you don't.

Let me see…, during only a one month investigation, $800,000.00 worth of marijuana was involved, including 400 active plants, a “sophisticated” outdoor and indoor active marijuana gardens, etc., generated by three budding entrepreneurs, presumably working secretly in an attempt to avoid detection, and therefore at some disadvantage over, let’s say your average tobacco farmer…, hmmmmm? And they’re jailing these fellas? So, instead of only three, er, um…, farmers, let’s say we work about 300 green thumbers into producing this interesting cash cow product, operating under the same disabilities as our prospective jailbirds. Rather than going through the trauma and expense of exporting the product to the east, (not to mention that little ole’ interstate transportation issue), why not offer the product to some of our equally deserving locals? The cost reduction would increase profitability, reduce fuel emissions resulting from transportation, and likely work to reduce the staggering unemployment rate as a result of new employment opportunities that would emerge.

Furthermore, instead of wasting valuable law enforcement resources and the related millions and millions spent sneaking around trying to catch these guys, we would simply implement a change in job description from “narcotics officer”, to “security guard”. We’ve already purchased the uniforms, guns, helicopters, night vision equipment, etc. The only thing we would need to do is reveal the location of these farms to allow the former narcotics officers to take up their new positions to actually guard and protect the new, expansive, green belt that would emerge as a result of this promising venture. 300 resourceful farmers could generate enough revenue in a ten month period to put a dent in the budget deficit. 3,000 could do even better.

On the other hand, we could continue to waste valuable resources and manpower searching out active marijuana gardens only to be forced to watch the ultimate law enforcement booty literally go up in smoke. The least they could do is bus a bunch of loadies and a couple of bands up to the scene of the crime before they start the burn. While law enforcement would refer to it as destroying the crop, we could simply call it a music festival.

Bill, usually I really like what you have to say and the message you have regarding this is a good one. However...

"How many times have you seen people get violent while under the influence of marijuana and nothing more?"

My answer to that is.. never. I have seen many arrests both on Cops and have witnessed a few in person (not me of course). In every case that turned violent where pot was used alchohol or another sudstance like cocain or meth was also in the mix.

My stepfather (a police officer) personally does not think pot should be legal. But when I asked him if he had ever seen pot make someone agressive he answered. For the refrigerater...yeah.

Just for the record your message is valid, I just think a different example would best serve your point.
Just my Opinion.

Correction. third paragragh last sentence. "substance" sorry peeps...its past my bedtime.

Jhern: I don't understand where we differ, I said that I have never seen anyone get violent because of being under the influence of marijuana (without any other drugs being consumed in addition to just the pot) and you are saying the same thing...right?