In my opinion the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s marijuana eradication efforts are a waste of time and resources, due mainly to the fact that there has yet to be a single documented case of an overdose death from marijuana use or any diseases directly related to it. Yeah, yeah, I know marijuana is illegal, but it was also illegal at one point not too long ago for a black person to use a white person’s drinking fountain, and it was illegal for a black person to get an education at certain public schools and universities. Such archaic laws were based on fear and misinformation—much like modern day laws against marijuana and hemp.

I come from a family full of law enforcement professionals: My dad is a retired police officer in Ventura county (33 years), my mother was a dispatcher and later a police officer for Oxnard Police Dept., and I have an uncle and a cousin-in-law currently in the career field. I understand how police officers are taught to enforce laws and not to personally assess a law’s actual value to society. However, if police officers referenced in this article are driving past dozens of liquor stores which sell products that truly create havoc on society on their way to the hills to eradicate a product that has yet to demonstrate an actual detrimental effect on society (other than arresting the people using it, thus beginning an incarceration cycle), how does that reconcile with common sense and resources well-spent toward quality of life here?

When was the last time a licensed doctor prescribed a liter of Jack Daniels or a carton of cigarettes to treat someone suffering from AIDS, cancer, or MS?

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