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COPS ARE OFFENDED
THAT VOTERS THINK THEY
CAN TELL THEM WHAT TO DO

“It really is quite offensive,” said Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood, president of the California State Sheriffs’ Assn., complaining about lawmakers “wanting to direct law enforcement how they want us to work.”

Really? Cops find it offensive that our elected representatives want to direct how they work? I thought that is what our elected officials were supposed to do – tell law enforcement what to do. If our elected representatives are not supposed to “direct law enforcement” than who is?

Sheriff Youngblood seems to think that police should “direct” themselves which is the very definition of a police state. In fact, thanks to the War on Drugs, we do have a police state and any attempts to put a leash on it is meet with furious opposition by cops who bridle at the thought that lawmakers would even dare to think they could tell “law enforcement how they want us to work.”

What is it that has so drawn the ire of the cops? Its AB 1578, the bill sponsored by Assemblyman Jones Sawyer, three other Assembly member and two State Senators, that will “direct” cops not to cooperate with federal police in the arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of any marijuana consumers, providers or cultivators operating legally under California law.

With their overwhelming vote in favor of Prop. 64, the voters of California have made it very clear that they do not agree with the Controlled Substances Act and don’t want their tax dollars used to enforce it. They expect elected officials and government agencies to carry out their “directive” and that includes cops.

The people of California have voted to legalize marijuana and end marijuana prohibition. It is the duty of cops paid by the taxpayers of California to do what the voters tell them to do and not what they want to do even if they really really really want to do it.

If Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood, president of the California State Sheriffs’ Assn, is “offended” by the voters of California and their elected representatives “directing” them on what to enforce and what not to enforce then he should quit his job and go to work for North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. And so should all the members of the California State Sheriff’s Association and every other cop that finds it “offensive” that voters and elected officials might want “to direct law enforcement how they want us to work.”

Local police are chomping at the bit to join the federal police they expect to be coming to California to turn back the tide of marijuana legalization at the behest of the Trump administration whose law and order rhetoric to unleash law enforcement from any kind of civil restraint is payback to all the police organizations that supported his candidacy.

Maybe the cops know something we don’t. Some marijuana activists don’t think much will come from the Trump administration to overturn the legalization laws now in force in eight states and the District of Columbia.

"I don't think there's any more reason to be scared than to be hopeful at this point," said Mason Tvert, Denver-based communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "The administration has not changed its marijuana policy, and there is reason to believe it may maintain the existing policy or adopt a similar one that respects states' laws regulating marijuana."

"Marijuana is one of the least of my concerns with the Trump administration," said Dale Gieringer, Executive Director of CaNORML. "That's the first time I've been able to say that, but I just don’t see where there's any percentage in them going after marijuana. The polls are on our side, and they can't enforce the law."

Others however, are not so sanguine.

"As far as the industry goes, even the threat of a crackdown by the Justice Department has a chilling effect," said Justin Strekal, NORML political director and lobbyist. "The Cole memo is just a piece of paper and there is nothing stopping Sessions from just throwing it away, as the Heritage Foundation has called for him to do.” “The worst case would be that the adult use states are rolled back to a situation where there is no way to have a legal distribution system, but local law enforcement is not going to be enforcing federal marijuana prohibition."

I sure hope that Strekal is right and that “local law enforcement is not going to be enforcing federal marijuana prohibition," but I would advise against holding your breath on that one. The California Sheriff’s Association and the California Chiefs of Police Association along with their sycophants at the California League of Cities are using the combined weight of three 800 pound gorillas to see that they can, at the very least, help federal cops enforce federal law.


AB 1578 causes cops to seethe with fury that they would not be able to suit up in their swat team tactical force uniforms, bring out all their drug war military weaponry and bust down the doors of legal businesses, farms and homes to break the back of the upstart marijuana legalization movement that threatens their $50 billion a year taxpayer funded War on Drugs pig trough.

If cops fear AB1578 that much, it tells us that this bill will be very effective if it becomes law. It is to our advantage to do everything we can to aid its passage and eventual signing by Gov. Brown.

AB 1578 will be the focus of all three MAPP meetings the first week of April. Our focus must be to educate voters about AB 1578 and to contact our local and state elected officials and let them know we expect them to uphold and protect the will of California voters when they passed Prop. 64. How we can effectively do that, how we can obtain the support of other organizations and more will make these meetings extremely important for everyone to attend.

Most importantly, we must not allow cops to think that they are not beholden to the voters and elected officials of California and that they better get over finding it “offensive” that the taxpayers who pay their salaries should be calling the shots.

If you are in the Inland Empire, here are the dates and locations of all three MAPP meetings. If you are not in the Inland Empire, then get your local marijuana organizations to join together with other marijuana and drug law reform organizations to make sure AB 1578 becomes law.

Palm Springs/Coachella Valley meeting – Saturday, April 1 at 12 noon at Crystal Fantasy, 268 N. Palm Canyon Dr., downtown Palm Springs 92262.

Joshua Tree/Morongo Valley meeting – Saturday, April 1 at 3 p.m. at the - Beatnik Lounge, 61597 Twenty-Nine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree 92252

Riverside/San Bernardino/Western IE meeting - Wednesday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m. - Greenview Medical, 22275 Alessandro Blvd, Moreno Valley, CA 92553

Implementing and defending Prop. 64 from cops, politicians and Donald Trump -
Why the DPA is Sticking Around This Time

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