Marijuana prohibition is over in California, so we can all breathe easy, right? Dont tell that to Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.
The law still prohibits various activities often associated with cannabis cultivation, not to mention the violent crimes the black-market industry sometimes attracts, and fighting back against invasive and environmentally destructive cannabis grows will be no less a priority this year than in prior years, Allman said.
That could be a challenge if recent trends hold steady. Allman expects more illegal cultivation in the near future, done either out of ignorance of the law or in conscious disregard for it, and funding for his department might not keep up, he said.
Sheriffs deputies have seen a recent uptick in cultivation on public land, a persistent nuisance that can drive away tourists and, hence, their dollars from the countys national and state forests, Allman said.
The Sheriffs Office saw no new grows in Mendocino National Forest for two years after Operation Full-Court Press in 2011, a six-county raid involving local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies in which deputies seized 632,058 plants from public lands in six California counties.
After finding a few scattered grows in 2014 and 2015, deputies encountered 10 cultivation sites in the forest in 2016, Allman said. He said he expects to find more such grows this coming year, explaining that he sees no reason for the recent surge in public-land cultivation to slow down.
As if that werent enough, the recent statewide legalization of marijuana could contribute to the departments enforcement burden this year. One might expect law-enforcement agencies to shoulder a lighter load as erstwhile crimes become legal activities, but Proposition 64 could encourage unconscious law-breaking by sowing confusion about what is legal and illegal, Allman said. Sheriffs deputies have seized cannabis planted by people unaware that cultivation for recreational use begins next year, he said.
The Sheriffs Office receives calls from people every day, asking for guidance on how to legally cultivate recreational marijuana according to Prop. 64, said Allman, who wishes people would read the law and consult an attorney rather than his staff.
A need for greater enforcement could financially strain his department, which will likely report a deficit at the end of this fiscal year, Allman said.
The Sheriffs Office was not funded for this fiscal year at the level Allman had requested, and the combination of torrential downpours and the Laytonville murder case in which law-enforcement agencies have so far arrested six out of seven people suspected of killing and robbing a grower has pushed his department into the red, he said.
County supervisors have staked the popularity of their medical-marijuana regulations, which they are still drafting, on a number of concessions to people averse to the presence of the cannabis industry, among them a promise of vigorous enforcement against stubbornly noncompliant growers. Allman, who has recently clashed with supervisors over expenditures, said that adequate funding is not a given.
The Sheriffs Office budget was not funded adequately this year, and its expected that were going to come in over budget, Allman said. So if the supervisors are promising enforcement, I hope they are looking at vigorous funding.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Eradication Of Illegal Cannabis Grows Still A Priority, Sheriff Says
Author: Erick O’Donnell
Contact: (707) 468-3500
Photo Credit: Patrick Tehan
Website: The Ukiah Daily Journal
