Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jun 2015
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters_form.html
Website: http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Author: Ken Cable

REJECTING POT RIGHT CALL

The citizens of Riverside have made it clear they do not want medical 
marijuana shops operating in their city. This is an "unfortunate 
development," according to "Anti-marijuana forces prevail" 
[Editorial, June 4]. It shows the people of the city want "the force 
of government to keep marijuana sales confined to the black market."

This bit of petulance is no doubt a not well thought-out reaction to 
their full-throated campaign to bring legitimacy to the wider use of 
this debilitating drug to Riverside and San Bernardino.

The editorial goes on to say the failure was the fault of "dishonesty 
and fear mongering" by opponents. Illegal marijuana cannot be 
regulated, intoned the P-E in successive editorials, so make it 
legal, and it lowers the crime rate. So would making all crime legal, 
but the P-E has yet to campaign for legalizing other crimes difficult 
to manage.

Law enforcement knows that by focusing attention on any criminal 
behavior pattern, control can be achieved. It's a moving-target 
situation  identify the problem, and suppress it.

It happens all over the country every day. It's a police management 
decision. Whether it was a push by the P-E for more tax money or just 
naivete, it was wise to leave it to the voters.

They proved to be harder to convince than the P-E Editorial Board.

Ken Cable

Canyon Lake

chief, Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept. (retired)
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom