Sheriff Favors County Pot Ban

[DoobieDuck]

Lassen County is experiencing difficulties with its Sheriff, the Board of Supervisors and the issue of MMJ.

Lassen County Sheriff Steve Warren apologized to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors for missing the board’s April 13 meeting when the supervisors discussed the possibility of adopting a pair of county ordinances that would have prohibited marijuana cultivation and the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries in the county.

At the board’s Tuesday, April 20 meeting, Warren said he was attending the federal attempted murder and marijuana cultivation trial in Sacramento for suspects involved in a gun battle at a Dixie Valley marijuana garden last July that left one grower dead and injured two Lassen County deputies.

Dave Martin, a Lassen County Sheriff’s sergeant, and deputy Dave Woginrich both were shot during the gunfight, and six suspects were later arrested in Northern Lassen County. The garden contained about 8,100 marijuana plants.

“I had a pretty strong obligation to be there,” Warren said.

Warren said his position on marijuana in Lassen County is very clear. During recent meetings with county staff leading up to the board’s consideration, Warren said he asked John Ketelsen, county administrative office, if the county could simply prohibit marijuana cultivation and dispensaries in the county.

“Pardon my ignorance,” Warren told the supervisors, “but I thought we already had a moratorium. I thought we already had a prohibition such as Citrus Heights, Lincoln, Roseville and some of those other cities have done. I thought the only one (dispensary) we had in the world around here was in the city.”

But Warren said his department has encountered two other marijuana operations in the county.

While the sheriff said he didn’t want to discuss the medical marijuana issue, “No matter what, to me marijuana is still against federal law. The U.S. Attorney General has come out and said they’re not going to go after (marijuana offenders) and enforce (federal) laws in states where they’ve adopted local rules that say they can do that. I disagree with that opinion, but even the U.S. Attorney General’s opinion does not make it law. It’s still against federal law, and in my mind, it always will be. If there’s a local rule or local ordinance where we can enforce and prohibit at least growing in our county, or even being present in our county, I’m totally in favor of that.”

Warren encouraged the board to take steps to impose a countywide ban on marijuana.

“I certainly have an obligation to enforce all laws, even those I don’t agree with, but luckily for me at this time it’s still against federal law,” Warren said. “I think if this governing body has the ability to prohibit them through a moratorium or absolutely restrict it so it can’t be in our county, then that’s the action that should be taken.”

Warren said statistically only 3 percent of medical marijuana recommendations and state-issued medical marijuana cards are valid.

“I don’t think it’s Satan’s spawn,” Warren said. “I don’t think it’s the worst drug in the world — I think methamphetamine is — but I do think it’s illegal, and I think it should stay illegal. Even if the initiative on the ballot passes, there are still going to be some significant issues for the county because it’s still going to be against federal law, and until the U.S. Supreme Court takes this and actually makes a final decision on where this is going to be, that’s where I’m going to be. If the U.S. supremes come down and say, ‘Sheriff, this is a legalized issue, now ignore it,’ then that’s what I’ll do. Until then, that’s where I’m at on marijuana.”

The board plans to revisit the marijuana moratorium issue again in the near future.

Read the full story here.

 

[Guest 16149]

Another sheriff that thinks he knows what is best for us, what a major ASS. Guys like this need to be removed from office, they have their own agenda.

 

[Speedcat]

some sort of force in this universe is going to wipe these fucking scum bags off the grid man. their has to be some good karma force in this universe god or whatever you ant to call the force that be, sometime it will save mankind from people like this and their ignorance

 

[watson540]

this fool isnt paid to uphold FEDERAL laws...what a fucking moron

 

[theJointedOne]

oh My old Eastern Ca, when will you ever learn....

Thanks doobie for the post. having been a resident of Plumas county (which borders lassen) for 10 years plus I know how these guys think. I lived in Lassen too for a while and its the same.

I recently moved west a little and am in a more open county, but im sorry to the patients in lassen that have to deal with a sherrif like this. He is obviously injecting his own opinion into state law. Actually he took an oath when he was sworn in to protect the people of Ca n protect its laws not the feds laws.

tnaks again doobie

 

[grasspass]

A Sheriff is voted in or out. Unlike the police. The sheriff in my area would probably get voted out if he started spouting off about upholding Federal law , because the federal gov is losing popularity around here.

 

[PharmaCan]

I wonder what part of "State Constitution" these clowns don't understand? If they don't like the laws in California, they are always free to either try to change the law or move elsewhere. One thing they do not the option of doing is to ignore the law.

If I were at the BOS meeting, I would immediately challenge the Sheriff to provide the audience with his department's policy for enforcement of our immigration laws. When he replied that they didn't enforce immigration laws because they are a federal issue, I'd nail his ass to a cross.

Regardless of how you might feel about immigration, the fact is that local municipalities refuse to have anything to do with immigration enforcement under the guise that they can't enforce federal laws. THEY CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS! If the pro-pot people at these hearings started demanding immigration enforcement, and I'm talking about completely changing the subject and harping on "we want immigration enforcement", the meeting would turn to chaos and the Stupidvisors would be hard pressed to justify one against the other. (BTW - it doesn't matter how you actually feel about illegal immigration because nothing will ever come of your protestations. This is merely a means to an end so there's no sense bringing illegal immigration into this discussion.)

PC

 

[Open Eyes]

I like how the LEO knows how 3% of the doctor prescribed scripts are fake anyway. Who the fuck made him a doctor? Sounds to me like he has his own agenda he wants to implement. People like him need to go and go fast.

 

[PharmaCan]

I like how the LEO knows how 3% of the doctor prescribed scripts are fake anyway. Who the fuck made him a doctor? Sounds to me like he has his own agenda he wants to implement. People like him need to go and go fast.

You've got this upside down.

"Warren said statistically only 3 percent of medical marijuana recommendations and state-issued medical marijuana cards are valid."

So he's saying that 97% of all MMJ recs are phony.

These clowns should be required to be sworn in before they testify. Spewing totally unsubstantiated propaganda as if it were fact is not something that public officials should be allowed to do!

PC

 

[theJointedOne]

yeah OPenEyes when i saw that i said "bullshite" ...3% i mean cmon i bet there are fakes out there now that i think about it...yesterday a guy in line at bpg before me whipped out a rec that looked hella janky! and the guy before him had his rec and it was like 3 months expired....so i do see these fools trying to fake into the medical scene but i do believe there are more than 3% of mmj recs that are legit

 

[Balazar]

How about don't vote for this guy, and when you have an emergency dial .357 not 911 cause if this guy shows up your gonna have an even bigger problem.

 

[Grendelkhan]

Some BS tin badge who thinks that hes the moral judge for everyone. Sad as shit that someone like him gets to run things the way that he see fit without any chance of anything being done to him. I am seeing this type of person rising everywhere in the country and the reason is people like Sheriff Joe in AZ. We have these local lawmen who go off all crazy and what they are learning is that they can go crazy because nothing will happen to them. The fact that nothing is done to them legally is getting more of this type of person to act up. I don't see this easing up anytime soon. We are going to get these little dictators in many more area's because they are in effect above the law. Its going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

 

[superbolan]

I love how the LEO's always pull these percentage figures out of their ass.

 

[the_red_bull]

OMG how easy would it be for this joker if he could just lock up whoever he feels like. Then he wouldn't even have to bother with the real deal of law enforcement over his own whims.

 

[meduser180056]

Unfortunately the sherrifs usually run unopposed or if they are opposed its by another good ol boy with the same ideas. Here in SC it's the same shit liberal county, but super conservative sheriffs who believe MMJ is illegal.

 

[MostHigh]

Marijuana Favors County Sheriff Ban

 

[Guest 16149]

Marijuana Favors County Sheriff Ban

 

[Growbrass]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the Sheriff there to uphold LOCAL LAW if it differs from federal? Federal law shouldn't be his business, unless local law was the same as federal then that would obviously be different.

 

[hkush]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the Sheriff there to uphold LOCAL LAW if it differs from federal? Federal law shouldn't be his business, unless local law was the same as federal then that would obviously be different.

Thats why he's elected by the people, and not HIRED by the government. If he can't comply with local ordinances he should be voted out. He has no business even knowing federal laws.

 

[HippyJohnny]

This man has a real posse and a gun and the authority to use them.

Think about that for a while...