Originally Posted by
Don Quinn
I will attemp to explain this the best I feel I can, without it sounding strange. As a Police officer we have discretion on a lot of situations, such as traffic offense and minor offenses against society. If a "victim" is involved that takes away that discretion and it is more on the shoulders of the victim. With that being said, there are A LOT of people that smoke weed, and yes it is a controlled substance however I have attempted to educate myself the best I can on the subject and I have taken a somewhat neutral stand. I rarely cite people for minor use of Marijuana "15 g" or less for personal use, that is a fine in our state and can be wiped from your record within 6 months, it depends on demeanor. However, I do believe with a lot of the people that a small ammount of marijuana is for personal use, but I have located marijuana with heroin, cocaine and presciption medication that the person doesn't need but obtained to sell or abuse. I don't believe children need to be in contact with any of the above listed drugs, It could be a choice upon adulthood but we have way to many problems with kids in schools and "gangs" which always involves some type of drug use. I don't and have never tried any narcotics I was raised as a cops kid and was disciplined hard for anything I did that was wrong. In closing for this post, Matt, I would HOPE that anybody that I am involved with especially training partners and friends that know my position especially as a police officer would have the respect not to do that around me and cause me to make that decision. I'm not going around off duty looking to arrest people for personal use of marijuana, however like I said there are a lot of other drugs out there, especially prescription medication that are out of control and need some type of enforcement.