Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department’s Robert McMahon is charged with enforcing the law on marijuana use. But he is very concerned about the many hidden ramifications of decriminalizing cannabis, making it legal for anyone to grow and smoke hemp. He’s afraid of what the second largest city and most populous state in the country would look like in 20 years if weed is made legal.
“I think that anytime that an intoxicant is made legal there are social costs associated with it. And I point directly to cigarettes and alcohol as examples,” he says. “We’re talking about loss of work and collisions, work-related industrial injuries. Somebody comes to work stoned, and they are working some heavy equipment or up on a high-rise — a window washer that’s stoned — not only could he [or she] injure himself, but some of his or her negligence could cause someone else to be injured.”
McMahon is also concerned about opportunists, who exploited a law that allows medical marijuana usage under dire medical circumstances, as a way to camouflauge illegal drug activities.
“You could chose, just at random, any dispensary and just sit out there at 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. and see who goes into these places. Remember, this law was passed in 1996 under Proposition 215 that was supposed to aid cancer patients and those in the final stages of their lives and make things comfortable for them. But look at the clientele going in and out of these medical dispensaries. Do they look sick to you?”
That’s why the state has ordered a crackdown.
“The current law in California does allow for them to grow their marijuana and use their marijuana. That’s not [an excuse] for driving under the influence, but it does provide a defense for the cultivation and possession of marijuana,” he explains. “But nowhere in the law does it allow for the sale of marijuana, which is why they are trying to get this measure passed [to legalize casual sale and use of cannabis].”
That’s why the state attorney general and district attorneys have leveled the arm on the law on the dispensaries that have popped up on virtually every street corner in L.A.
“It’s being cracked down by municipalities, by the counties’ sheriffs’ departments and certainly by the Los Angeles Police Department. And that’s just criminal prosecution. What is interesting that I’m finding now is that civil court are also following suit. They are allowing cities to ban dispensaries in their jurisdictions. And that’s being upheld in the appellate system.”
McMahon, who has a family, is also taking in consideration other consequences of having such things available.
“If there’s that much weed out there, realistically, how many are getting into our junior high and high schools?”
His concerns are not without merit. The L.A. Sheriff’s Department issued a warning this past Halloween on the types of items sold at marijuana dispensaries. Law enforcement displayed a variety of candy, soda, chocolate and other snack foods containing concentrated amounts of marijuana that were recently seized from local marijuana dispensaries.
In recent years, dispensaries have sprouted in L.A. like dandelions.
“I don’t know what the current number is, but there used to be 600 to 800 dispensaries. As a matter of fact, there were more marijuana dispensaries in the city of Los Angeles than there were Starbucks.”
McMahon believes the sale of marijuana will produce a generation of junkies. “What will happen to our kids if this stuff is legal? Think about 20 years from now what L.A. will look like?” he asks.
–terry shropshire
