Marijuana News

West Virginia's Unevolved Approach to Cannabis, Source: http://chcidoameriky.cz/wp-content/uploads/statni-znak-zapadni-virginie.pngMarijuana prosecutions, in correlation with a softening national perception, are falling across the country. However, this is not true in every corner of America.

Hancock county, West Virginia is one such spot in our nation where cannabis arrests have dramatically increased in recent years.

While law enforcement officials in Hancock Co. are happy to hide behind the worn-out argument that cannabis is a gateway drug and claim they are doing a public service, many believe that the climb in marijuana arrests is directly related to the way said enforcement officials acquire government funding.

This was news to me, but it turns out that, in response to the “Great Recession,” the federal goverment stuffed some $4 billion into the Byrne grant program, which is the chief crime-fighting grant program. Some further digging shows that, whether it’s true or not, local law enforcment units believe they can gain access to the Byrne grant money by proving they need it. How do they prove they need it? With arrest records, of course!

This leads to an increase in cannabis arrests because they are exceptionally easy to make. These aren’t trafficking arrests, either, these are primarily arrests for possession. If I was a cop and HAD to make an arrest quota, I would much rather go after the docile, peaceful pot smokers than those who deal in hard drugs.

The feds claim that Byrne grant dispersal has nothing to do with arrest count.

“Denise O’Donnell, who runs the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance, which administers the Byrne grants, says her agency is examining whether the program “is somehow incentivizing agencies to make more low-level arrests.” She says she’s trying to “correct that misconception” by spreading the message that “it’s really important that these funds be used against high-level organizations and not in a way that’s creating any disproportionate impact on people of color.”

“High-Level” organizations, is a key phrase in there. The vast majority of cannabis arrests in Hancock Co. are for minor possession. Even Ryan Neely (the star of the source article) was arrested for drying 8 plants in his home. Neely, a rock-band manager and former opiate addict following a back injury, had this to say, “[The police] are after anyone who’s a hippie. We’re not bad people. We’re just trying to make it. We only sell to friends. I smoke pot to get away from the opiates when I get the craving. We’re not drug dealers. I mean, the problem is heroin, and we don’t touch that. We’re pot smokers that get together to play music.”

Now Neely is considering a move to Pennsylvania where laws are less strict. He has had a very difficult time securing employment and making a life with the stigma of a felon attached to his name, even if only for cannabis possession.

The kicker? Heroin is on a meteoric rise in West Virginia but law enforcement is content to keep going after potheads. Hancock County Sheriff Ralph Fletcher, who runs a 26-man force, says that “…heroin is our new problem drug, it all starts with marijuana. The [arrest] numbers are up because we’re getting more efficient and there’s more use.” Despite this, he has no intention of easing off on possession arrests. Yawn. Marijuana leads to heroin? Does this guy just go home, disconnect his internet and watch his overused copy of Reefer Madness on VHS?

So, we have Neely, who believes that more arrests lead to more money, we have the feds who are saying that Byrne Grants are disconnected from arrest records and that grant monies are designated for high-level crime systems, and we have the county sheriff saying he has no intention of cutting back on cannabis arrests.

Neely (like most peacful potheads) is getting draped over a barrel here and victimized, while the feds and the county law are both attempting to redirect attention away from their callous and irrational approach to cannabis users. I smell horseshit and it’s coming from both the Hancock Sheriff and the federal government.

I honestly don’t know if arrest records have anything to do with funding, but, purely from a data perspective, I am unsure how else they could verify/justify their funding requests without such a metric.