New and Old Marijuana Permitting Divides Law Enforcement Officials in Mendocino

Although the termination of Mendocino County’s novel pot permitting program will result in the loss of sizeable revenue for the local Sheriff’s Department, the issue of whether or not the county should work with the industry in such a manner has divided law enforcement officials in the department. The county was forced to shut down its permitting program due to strong legal pressure from the federal government and many have commented that the county ultimately faced the consequences for pushing the envelope.

The county has now issued a watered down version of the permit ordinance. The revised version stipulates that the ability to cultivate 99 plants with a permit is no longer permissible. The law reads as follows: “The cultivation of more than twenty-five (25) marijuana plants on one (1) parcel, either indoors or outdoors, within the unincorporated area of the County, regardless of whether the person(s) growing the marijuana is/are a "qualified patient", "primary caregiver", or "collective", is hereby prohibited.” Read more about the law’s provisions here.

KQED reports that while Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman was in favor of the first-of-its-kind permitting program, other deputes speaking off the record harshly criticized any program that allows growers to produce pot. The following is an excerpt from an interview with Sheriff Allman:

“How can the county get around the line that the federal government has drawn?
The one consistent thing we can agree on about marijuana is that the situation is ever-changing. The highest law in the land as we know it is our constitution. We pay nine US justices to interpret that constitution. The best wish I have is for the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution to give these 16 states and the District of Columbia a clear direction. Because if there's one thing that's lacking from this whole conversation, it's a clear direction at a national level.
Do you think this move by the county to back away from the program will heal some of the rifts within your own department? You have plenty of deputies that don’t' like the program…
That hasn't been part of my thought process. I understand what my role is, as an elected sheriff in a rural county in California. That's to fairly enforce the law, protect the rights of my citizens, and to make sure justice is carried out. Protecting the rights of our citizens does not depend on whether my deputies are happy or unhappy about it. As I've said many times, I've never smoked marijuana in my entire life, but if 57% of the voters in California have said legitimate medical marijuana will be respected, am I going to say that my deputies don’t think they should respect it so we're not going to? No. And if the voters say well we want a sheriff who goes against marijuana, in 2014 they'll have a chance at that.”

Read the full interview with the county sheriff here.