[O]n the eve of a Senate vote on a bill to legalize recreational marijuana, several of Vermont’s most prominent law enforcement groups reiterated their opposition.
In an open letter to lawmakers, four police and sheriff groups urged them to vote down S.241, the bill that would create a regulated market and allow adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.
“We choose to err on the side of protecting our youth and general public,” the letter states. “We choose not to violate federal law.”
Leaders of the Vermont Association of Chiefs of Police, the Vermont Sheriffs’ Association, the Vermont Police Association and the Chittenden County Law Enforcement Executive Committee signed the two-page letter.
The letter expresses concern about roadside safety, stating that law enforcement statewide doesn’t have the resources to adequately enforce laws against driving while impaired by drugs, including marijuana. The bill does not do enough to provide resources to municipal police agencies on that front, the letter says.
The groups also raise concerns about violating federal laws on marijuana.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have heard opposition from law enforcement over the legalization push.
Col. Matt Birmingham, who heads the Vermont State Police, testified to the Senate Transportation Committee this month that there are “real public safety concerns” to be considered.
In Birmingham’s written testimony, he raised the issue of marijuana tourism. Regulation of purchases by nonresidents would be a significant challenge for police because of the increased volume of traffic on roadways.
Preventing out-of-staters from taking marijuana home would be virtually unenforceable, he said.
Birmingham also said that in attempting to stamp out the illicit market for marijuana in Vermont, the state could feed the black markets in surrounding states and Canada, “which would undoubtedly take advantage of our situation.”
But Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, who led the push to draft the marijuana bill, said she’s heard differently from some members of law enforcement.
“Everybody in law enforcement is not 100 percent opposed to legalization,” White said.
White cited testimony from Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark, who came out in favor of the bill last month.
In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Clark said the effort by state and federal governments to prohibit marijuana has not made communities or highways safer.
“In many ways, prohibition has created a system that has caused more harm than good,” Clark said.
White said she has heard personally from other members of law enforcement who “don’t feel that they can speak out against their associations.”
She also said lawmakers have done a good job addressing the concerns of the Vermont police associations in the bill. Money would be set aside to increase the number of trained drug recognition experts in police forces, she said.
White also rebutted the concerns in the law enforcement associations’ letter over breaking the federal law. Those concerns came up when Vermont decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, but the worries have not panned out, she said.
“We know that the states are the laboratory of democracy and the only way that the federal government will ever do anything is if states start telling them,” White said.
Attorney General William Sorrell and two former state attorneys general came out in support of the bill in a letter to the Legislature last week.
“Instead of subsidizing gangs and cartels with a failed prohibition policy, we believe Vermont should focus on reducing the harms associated with marijuana and other drug use through prevention, education, treatment and smart enforcement strategies,” that letter says.
