Asking For Sheriff Rutherford’s View on Marijuna

I found today that Jacksonville’s Sheriff Rutherford will be on live chat at 11 a.m. to discuss the city budget. Over the last few years, this topic has become increasingly important with the cut in overall funding, which obviously leads to fewer officers on the streets thus increased crime. A vicious cycle indeed.

I submitted a few questions on his views on marijuana use in Jacksonville, and posed a few points on how marijuana legalization and taxation could not only help directly with the budget, but also in the decreased man hours spent on the “victimless crime.”

My questions were as followed:

I would like to ask Sheriff Rutherford’s opinion on marijuana legalization. I know it’s a larger topic of discussion, but I would like to know his views as an officer of law enforcement.

Does he feel that marijuana use in Jacksonville is an appropriate crime on which to spend precious man hours and resources. Does he feel that the use of marijuana among responsible adults in Jacksonville is a problem the deserves more or less attention?

Would it not be beneficial to legalize the use of marijuana, at least medicinally to allow people to attain and use it without breaking the law, thus taking a large chunk of the profits and power away from criminals? Would the taxes gained from such an effort not help the Sheriff’s Office, which is in dire need?

I hope he receives these questions and takes a moment to answer them.

I can tell you that, as a citizen of Jacksonville the crime in my area is getting noticeably worse as time goes on. We are talking violent crimes. Just down the road from my humble abode (where I live with my wife and infant daughter) a man with a gun forced his way into the house of an elderly woman, stole some of her stuff, and bolted.

Sure would have been nice if we had more cops (say what you will about JSO officers) that at least have the availability and ability to make their presence known. To patrol the streets with more consistency, instead of spending countless hours and dollars booking some guy for toking up.

I’ve had my share of run ins with the law around here, but those were usually due to actions on my part. As sided as we may seem at times, I would rather have them around than not.

To take more of them/their resources away takes us backwards, not forward.

There have been several stories of drug busts in Jacksonville lately, and it seems those resources could have been better spent with the increasing amount of shootings and violence.

As you may have heard I am in the works of getting petitions signed for PUFMM.org the weekend after this.

I am doing so in hopes that the legalization of marijuana, even medicinally at first will help to take the power away from people like these, and put it back into the hands of the people.

Let’s be realistic about it. Legalization will come. It’s a natural progression that a society moves gradually beyond ignorance of the past (unless you forget them, mind you).

I would rather we put a rush on it while we still have a sheriff’s department to speak of. Let’s stop wasting their time and our money; while crime gets worse. And let’s tackle some of the more important issues.