Pubdate: Sat, 26 Sep 2015
Source: Star Beacon, The (Ashtabula, OH)
Copyright: 2015 The Star Beacon
Contact:  http://www.starbeacon.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4021
Author: Justin Dennis

COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT: 'NO' ON ISSUE 3

JEFFERSON - Law enforcement officials from across the county joined 
in solidarity Friday against Issue 3, the state's marijuana 
legalization initiative, which will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.

"Ashtabula County, like the rest of Ohio and the United States, is in 
the midst of a drug epidemic," county Prosecutor Nick Iarocci said 
from the steps of the old county courthouse in Jefferson, surrounded 
by officers from every police department in the county.

"It is unimaginable that Ohio is considering legalizing marijuana, 
the 'gateway' drug to heroin and other opiates and narcotics, in the 
midst of the opiate epidemic that is causing death and agony to 
families of every social and economic class," he said.

Issue 3 would allow doctors to prescribe pot, as well as personal 
recreational use - and the ability to grow up to four flowering 
plants at once - for anyone 21 and older. If it passes, Ohio would be 
the fifth U.S. state to legalize, and the first to flip a complete 
ban of the substance, though punishments already were lessened in the 
late 1970s.

But Iarocci and other law enforcement officials said Issue 3 would 
only generate more drug offenses overall while doing little, if 
anything, to hamper pot on the black market. Iarocci said Friday the 
"gateway drug" can be directly linked to violent crime through later 
hard drug use.

"I represent every case to the (Ashtabula County) grand jury," he 
told the Star Beacon following his statement. "When I see heroin, I 
see marijuana. When I see cocaine, I see marijuana. In every report, 
they find marijuana with these harder drugs ... it truly is a 'gateway' drug."

Lt. Jeff Orr with the Trumbull-Ashtabula Group, a dedicated drug task 
force, said marijuana is most likely the first drug to be introduced 
in a peer group. And Ohio's lax pot penalties further the impression 
that marijuana is culturally accepted.

"And because the punishment is not there, kids are going to use it 
more than they are any other drug," he said.

In Ohio, possession of up to 3.5 ounces of weed, or just less than 
one-quarter pound, is a minor misdemeanor and carries a $150 fine. 
Possessing 7 ounces is a fourth-degree misdemeanor, with a $250 fine 
and a maximum 30 days of jail time, but imprisonment in misdemeanor 
cases is highly unlikely.

TAG Detective Greg Leonhard said often, even fifth-degree felony 
heroin offenders don't go to jail.

Friday's presentation used many post-2013 pot statistics from 
Colorado, which legalized that year. As of May, Colorado has 
collected more than $88 million in pot tax revenues this year, 
according to the revenue department.

Though 55 percent of tax revenue from Ohio's potentially budding 
industry would go back into public safety forces - as it does in 
Colorado, along with public schools - Iarocci said he interprets that 
increase to mean the state expects more crime.

County Sheriff William Johnson agrees.

"If they think there's not going to be problems, I think it's going 
to escalate problems, myself," he said,

adding if casual use would never lead to abuse or irrational 
decision-making, it would be a different story. "But that's not 
what's going to happen."

Colorado traffic fatalities decreased by 14.8 percent overall from 
2007 to 2012, however during the same timeframe, 100 percent more 
crash-causing drivers tested positive for marijuana, according to the 
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

While alcohol leads to a million more arrests each year than all 
other drugs combined, according to the FBI, NHTSA reported in 2010 - 
before major legislative shifts in pot attitudes - that marijuana was 
the most prevalent illegal drug detected in impaired drivers, fatally 
injured drivers or other car crash victims.

Johnson said driving under the influence is the same charge whether a 
driver is drunk or high, and a field sobriety test can yield the same 
telltale signs like slurred speech or bloodshot eyes.

Even if Issue 3 passes, he said his department's job won't change - 
"We never lose 'business.'"

Though pot proponents have touted legalization as a way to hamper 
Mexican drug cartels, Orr said the black market for pot won't be 
going anywhere - it might even shift its focus toward those who 
aren't old enough to legally buy weed at a retail establishment.

Almost 40 percent of marijuana sold in Colorado last year, or 53 
tons, was through the black market, according to the state's 
Department of Local Affairs, which also estimated nearly half a 
million residents use it at least once a month. And illegally 
purchased weed in Colorado has been much cheaper, Orr said.

"It's just ... economics," he said. "They're able to lower that 
price. If somebody has the ability to (undercut), it's the cartels."

Iarocci said Ohio, a long-standing political bellwether state, is a 
prime target for pro-pot groups.

"If they pass it in Ohio, they know the rest of the country is just a 
matter of time," he said - also questioning the manner and timing of 
the current effort.

"The proponents are attempting to amend the Ohio Constitution to make 
it a constitutional right to use marijuana," Iarocci said during his 
statement. "Persons would have constitutional right to life, liberty 
and the pursuit of happiness, and to use marijuana - seriously?"

More than $20 million from private investors has been thrown at Issue 
3 advertising, but with only 10 initial growing licenses - all of 
which have been scooped up by those same investors - Iarocci said "a 
few people are going to get very rich."

"Big money is behind this because they see the profit - they see 
dollar signs," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom