Pubdate: Sat, 01 Dec 2012
Source: Evansville Courier & Press (IN)
Copyright: 2012 The Evansville Courier Company
Contact:  http://www.courierpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/138
Author: Richard Gootee

LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS BRUSH OFF COMMENTS ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

State police superintendent said he'd legalize and tax it

EVANSVILLE -- Local law enforcement officials brushed off comments
last week by the head of the Indiana State Police that appeared to
support the legalization of marijuana and said they don't expect the
state's laws on the drug to change any time soon.

During an appearance in front of panel of state legislators Tuesday,
State police Superintendent Paul Whitesell said marijuana was "going
to stay" and that if he could he would legalize and tax it.

"I'm not in agreement with him at this point in time. I think I
understand his position, but I'm not sure that saying 'We give up,' is
the best attitude,

said Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams.

Williams said there are better avenues to address issues such as large
jail populations and busy court logs than to either legalize or
decriminalize the drug.

"I think we can, as a community and as a society, Williams said,
"address some of the issues that are brought up as reasons to
decriminalize marijuana ... without sending a message that we approve"

Both Williams and Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nicholas Hermann said
they don't expect any laws to change soon. Even if the idea gained
enough support such a move would lead to several other issues, the two
men said, including the need to develop a way to determine what a
legal driving status would be.

"You can be just an intoxicated on marijuana as you can on as
alcohol," Hermann said. "The difference right now is that we can give
you a test on the side of the road -- and set a level, 0.08 -- and we
can tell if you're too intoxicated to drive or not. For marijuana we
don't yet have that kind of test."

Vigo County Drug Task Force Detective Denzil Lewis said he believed
decriminalization of marijuana wouldn't lead to less crime.

"To legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana does nothing
but benefit the larger scale drug dealers," Lewis told a Terre Haute
television station. " ... More people are going to want to get
involved into the distribution of marijuana because now it's more 
lucrative."

Soon after Whitesell's statement to lawmakers, an agency spokesman
called the superintendent's remarks a "philosophical opinion" not an
official one and said that Whitesell does not support the legalization
of marijuana.

Republican Gov.-elect Mike Pence, who takes office in early January,
hasn't yet announced his pick to lead the state police.

"Gov.-elect Pence opposes the decriminalization of marijuana, and he
will base his decisions about the leadership of his administration on
a broad range of qualifications rather than a stance on one issue,"
Pence spokeswoman Christy Denault said.

Evansville Police Department Sgt. Jason Cullum said the remarks will
have no bearing on how that department handles marijuana cases.

"Our stance on it is that right now marijuana is illegal under any
circumstances -- we don't have medicinal marijuana laws; we don't have
laws that allow for small amounts for personal consumption," Cullum
said. "We will continue to enforce the laws the way they are written
in Indiana, and that will be true if the laws change, either on the
state or the federal level."

Cullum said he did not think Whitesell's remarks would negatively
impact the efforts of law enforcement against the drug. He said he
believes that even the educated supporters of legalization understand
that it will be some time before things change.

"Even when someone like the superintendent of the state police says if
he could legalize it, he would," Cullum said, "I think (supporters)
realize that it doesn't mean it's automatically changes the
enforcement being done by the state police or any other agency in Indiana."

Current state law makes possessing 30 grams or less of marijuana a
Class A misdemeanor on the first offense and carries a jail sentence
of up to one year. Possession of more than 30 grams -- roughly an
ounce -- is a Class D felony that carries a potential sentence of one
to three years in prison.
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