R
Robrites
Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster has a message for marijuana growers who decide not to enter the legal market: Expect law enforcement to knock on your door.
“We’re in a new era,” he said. “But I think anybody that has been alive during any different period of marijuana has come to understand that if you are cheating the system or not doing it right, you’ll probably come in contact with law enforcement….”
Eyster in a Facebook post last week piggybacked on a statement made by the state’s Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation chief, to a Santa Rosa crowd on May 9.
“Lori Ajax, chief of California’s new Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation headquartered in Sacramento, says ‘the state’ (read: local prosecutors and all law enforcement agencies) must aggressively root out black market pot in order for the legitimate industry to thrive,” he wrote on May 16. “This message should set expectations for those who continue to be out there or are contemplating venturing into this new frontier. Play by the new rules or expect old-fashion criminal litigation.”
Eyster clarified in an interview that he took Ajax’s words to mean there needs to be “aggressive enforcement” against the black market for the legal market to grow and thrive.
He also stressed the distinction between legalization and decriminalization. In this case, marijuana is being decriminalized, he said, because the offenses and charges are simply being scaled back.
“There’s a lot of ways to stay away from law enforcement now, under the new laws,” he said.
He predicts a lot of people who have been growing in the black market will decide to “roll the dice” and see if they get prosecuted. And he is sure those who do so will not be able to get away with it.
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“We’re in a new era,” he said. “But I think anybody that has been alive during any different period of marijuana has come to understand that if you are cheating the system or not doing it right, you’ll probably come in contact with law enforcement….”
Eyster in a Facebook post last week piggybacked on a statement made by the state’s Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation chief, to a Santa Rosa crowd on May 9.
“Lori Ajax, chief of California’s new Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation headquartered in Sacramento, says ‘the state’ (read: local prosecutors and all law enforcement agencies) must aggressively root out black market pot in order for the legitimate industry to thrive,” he wrote on May 16. “This message should set expectations for those who continue to be out there or are contemplating venturing into this new frontier. Play by the new rules or expect old-fashion criminal litigation.”
Eyster clarified in an interview that he took Ajax’s words to mean there needs to be “aggressive enforcement” against the black market for the legal market to grow and thrive.
He also stressed the distinction between legalization and decriminalization. In this case, marijuana is being decriminalized, he said, because the offenses and charges are simply being scaled back.
“There’s a lot of ways to stay away from law enforcement now, under the new laws,” he said.
He predicts a lot of people who have been growing in the black market will decide to “roll the dice” and see if they get prosecuted. And he is sure those who do so will not be able to get away with it.
MORE
