MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION: Mendocino Board Calls For Review
"[T]he Mendocino County Board of Supervisors [yesterday] became the first in California to call on Congress to conduct special hearings toward legalization of pot," the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports. Board members voted unanimously for the move, "[c]iting 30 years of failed state and federal anti-marijuana campaigns." Board Chair John Pinches said, "Government agencies have spent millions and millions of dollars trying to eradicate marijuana, with the only clear result being escalating prices that attract more and more growers." At the same time, "board members complained ... that while government agencies bankroll their war against marijuana, they do little to combat escalating manufacture and use of dangerous drugs like methamphetamine."
Time To Act
The board wrote state Rep. Frank Riggs (R-Windsor), asking him to fulfill an earlier pledge "to seek special congressional hearings on marijuana issues if county supervisors sought them." The Press Democrat reports that "Riggs was unavailable for comment." Yesterday's "vote was the first by a county board of supervisors in what's generally considered to be California's premium pot-growing region." Board members also voted unanimously on a second resolution "calling on local law enforcement and prosecutors to spend no more time or money on medical marijuana-related cases until state or federal agencies provide 'clear guidelines.'" The board "also expressed support" for a local marijuana-buying club "as long as the club operates under guidelines of Proposition 215," which legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes (Geniella, 1/28).