The Marijuana Question

Marijuana is a vegetable product of the genus Cannabis. The family includes hemp, the plant used to make rope.

Marijuana is more properly called Cannabis Sativa, and is commonly used as an illegal recreational drug in the United States and worldwide. Humans have been smoking marijuana since we learned that it altered our mental state. For the past forty years that I've been aware of marijuana we have been having a discussion as to whether it should be made legal and taxed like alcohol and tobacco, or regulated as a prescription medication.

Having these discussions is a good thing. Clayton Cramer recently wrote an article for Pajamas Media on the question and he looks at all the arguments. Some of the arguments are sound, logical, and rational. Some states have even gone so far as to legaliize marijuana for medical purposes. The debate rages across the country.

As a police officer, here's my take on marijuana. It's illegal in this state. That's all I need to know.

I've been a cop for almost thirty years and I've written a lot of tickets and arrested a lot of folks, some for possessing or selling marijuana. I've heard all the arguments. Yet people still go to jail for possessing marijuana.

I work in a high school and I talk to students, both informally and as a resource for the classroom. I enjoy a spirited debate, but I tell the students that it's important to make their arguments count. I am the Po-leese and I don't get to decide what's legal and what's illegal. That's a job for the legislature. If they can get half of the legislature to agree that marijuana should be legalized then it will eventually become legal to use marijuana. Until then it's illegal.

You can argue rationally, you can kick and scream and shout. You can bring in lettered professors with published opinions, but until you get half the legislature to vote on the issue, it's still illegal. And I am still the Po-leese. If I find marijuana on the school grounds, I'm adding additional charges that are guaranteed to make it a felony. It will go on your permanent record.

I'm glad we all understand that.