This is Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman’s Brain on Drugs

The Ft. Bragg Advocate’s interview series with  Sheriff Tom Allman’s is worth a read.  His thoughtful approach to enforcing California’s confusing medical marijuana laws is a noteworthy departure from the usual law enforcement approach of ticketing/arresting anyone possessing marijuana and letting the courts figure out who is a legal user and who isn’t.

Allman on whether or not marijuana is a gateway drug.

Shifting our discussion from meth to marijuana, Allman said he doesn’t see marijuana as a gateway drug to meth, but more as a phenomenon all its own.

“Saying marijuana is a gateway to meth is like saying cigarettes are a gateway to marijuana,” he said.

Allman is  most concerned about commercial grow operations which operate illegally in state forests.  Why?  The environment and Mendocino County’s water shortage:

“I know that just out of the abandoned gardens, they got over five miles of plastic pipe,” he said.

Allman described a planting technique that uses large, thick plastic bags that essentially form a 3- to 5-cubic-yard planter. He said the technique most associated with organized crime is simply to dig holes, rather than to spend money on the planter bags.

He said that growers are “dropped off” in the county’s higher elevations for the duration of the growing season. During their stay, supplies are taken to the camps by bosses, usually about once a month.

Allman noted that the higher rainfall in those areas leads to more erosion and that growing usually take place in areas with the most wildlife.

“You [will find] an increased amount of wildlife that is absolutely slaughtered,” he said. In September, when there is nothing else green, deer will eat marijuana. Growers will often shoot deer, and leave the carcass to rot.

“We have seen an increased number of illegal water diversions,” he said, “where people are putting dams on low-flow creeks or they are putting pumps near the rivers.

“The self-interest is to try to reclaim our county,” he said, “and go after the people who have no pride of ownership.

Allman, knowing that they’ll only catch about 10% of the illegal grow operations in a year, has a partial solution to the environmental problems.  Apparently, there’s a real problem with discarded empty soil bags:

Allman said he has suggested to the county supervisors that the bags should have a 75 cent redemption value on each bag. He said bags with a county redemption code could be returned for money and funds leftover from unredeemed bags could be used to clean up illegal gardens.

“Before the California redemption value on soda pop [cans] was there, you could walk out on the street and find 20 cans,” he said, “and now you can’t.”

Sheriff Allman also figured out a way to determine legal marijuana gardens from illegal ones – zip ties. As he explained to the Ukiah Daily Journal:

…people growing medical marijuana as patients or caregivers would buy number and color coded zip ties from the Sheriff’s Department to place on each plant. If a deputy comes upon the plants for whatever reason, the plant’s legal status is easily checked. Allman would like the new Board of Supervisors to allow him to proceed with the program by giving him permission to charge $25 per zip tie. Allman used the zip ties for awhile in 2007 and said he thought they were a success.

“In January, the next step is to go to the board and see if they will approve the cost for us to charge for these. If we recommend the distribution, I still think it will save law enforcement time. It will allow us to do our job and not burden legitimate medical marijuana growers.”

Very interesting indeed.  We realize that there are some in Mendocino County who are upset with Sheriff Allman for endorsing “Measure B” which repealed a county law that allowed for medical marijuana growers to grow as much as they wanted, wherever they wanted.  Measure B imposed the same  restrictions on Mendocino County growers that are placed on growers in most other counties (6 mature plants, 12 immature plants).  Some thought that Allman’s endorsement of Measure B was his first step down the road of cracking down on all marijuana growing.  It seems those fears were unfounded.

We here at Johnny California will be keeping an eye on Sheriff Allman.  We’re always interested in a senisble approach to drug enforcement.

Links to Sheriff Tom Allman Interviews:

Interview with Ft. Bragg Advocate-News

Interview with Ukiah Daily journal