Are Law Enforcement Officers Ignorant?

I am guilty of assuming that most law enforcement officials are just being obstinate dickheads about cannabis. I assumed that they know that marijuana is pretty safe and causes much less havoc than even alcohol or cigarettes. I mean, how can officers deal with domestic violence, theft, murder, rape, arson, meth/heroin dealers and yes, marijuana, and not know what of the aforementioned issues are truly a menace? As much as it irked me, at least it made some sense that they went after pot arrests because they are so easy and generated a fair profit in seizure revenues. Busting potheads is good business for the police.

Now, I’m not saying that my assumptions aren’t accurate, but what if there is a pandemic of ignorance that is also a part of the equation? A recent story from Bakersfield, CA, forced me to pause and allow for that possibility.

Two young men driving a U-Haul were pulled over for running a red light (an offense, by the way, for which police really ought to be pulling people over, it is a public safety concern). The routine traffic stop turned into a full on drug arrest when the officers found nearly 7,000 pounds of marijuana in the cargo area of the truck.

Look, I don’t think that cannabis should be illegal anywhere, regardless of how much you have in your possession, but these two men deserve a multitude of facepalms for this idiocy. C’mon guys! If you’re dumb enough to drive around with nearly three and half tons of a locally illicit substance in your truck, at least follow the damn traffic laws!

Okay, we’ve established that the perpetrators here are not playing with a full deck of cards, but the real mouth-agape moment comes when we learn that the Bakersfield PD claimed it was a nearly $77 million drug bust. The quick math: that prices out the weed to about $25 a gram or $700 an ounce. Have any of you ever seen pot at that price point? Even prior to legalization cannabis topped out between $10-15 per gram, and that was for some pretty highend stuff. Currently, I pay about $7 per gram or $200/ounce.

Either they are willfully lying or, more likely, they just don’t know fuck-all about cannabis. When contacted for comment, Bakersfield PD clarified by saying that they don’t go by the bulk price, but rather the street price. If that’s true, they are only further exposing their ignorance. Not only is $25/gram outrageous, it’s also not accurate because most cannabis users buy in bulk.

Maybe instead of fighting law enforcement outright we could stage an educational effort to inform officers about the reality of marijuana which is much less black and white than federal law mandates. No, I don’t think it will solve the problem completely. But if we can change even a few minds, that information could spread and lead to more reasonable actions.

I want to end by saying that I know there are many great cops out there who have their heads on straight when it comes to cannabis. This article is not directed toward those men and women. To them, I want to say thank you and ask that they please try to educate their less enlightened brothers and sisters.