Debate on Pot Legalization Heats up in California [semi-satire]

Semi-News/Semi-Satire ^ | 15 May 2016 | John Semmens

[John Semmens]

The debate over a California initiative to legalize recreational marijuana sparked heated rejoinders from both sides this week.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R) suggested that legalization "will better deploy law enforcement resources. Energy that is now put into harassing inoffensive users of marijuana can be redirected toward suppressing more serious crimes like rape and murder."

Leading opponent of legalization, Ventura Police Chief Ken Corney, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, challenged the Congressman "to name one so-called rape or murder victim who might otherwise have been spared if police officers weren't occupied enforcing our drug laws."

"Potheads like to portray dope smoking as a harmless activity, but its impacts are insidious and long lasting," Corney maintained. "The harm to society is more pervasive than the more isolated rape or murder. Saving an entire generation from addiction and its ill-effects strikes me as more important than a futile effort to save the relatively few impacted by these other crimes, especially since the vast majority of police action on these comes after-the-fact. The true choice is between us basically 'cleaning up' after a rape or murder vs. proactively intervening to modify self-destructive behavior across a broader cohort of the population."

Rohrabacher characterized Corney's stance as "an example of the nanny-state at its worst. Misguided do-gooders once thought that using police to prevent people from ruining their lives by consuming alcohol was appropriate. Most now recognize what a mistake that was as it fueled the rise of notorious gangsters like Al Capone during Prohibition. Our modern-day repetition of that mistake with attempts to suppress marijuana provide the environment for violent drug-smuggling gangsters and the mayhem they inflict on communities across the nation."

if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,206549.0.html

[areukiddingme1]

I defer to Don Zaluchi.

[Wolfie]

Give Chief Ken a break, he’s fighting for union jobs after all.