Following the passage of State Issue 2 and the legalisation of marijuana, the Times Leader reached out to law enforcement officials for reaction and word on how this change in the law might affect training and policing.
Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas said he was disappointed with the results, but thanked the people of Belmont County for voting ‘no’.
“Belmont County voted ‘no’ on Marijuana Issue 2, but statewide it passed. All I can say is that I, as sheriff, and the sheriffs in the state and other public agencies … were against it,” he said, adding that he expects complications in law enforcement and the workforce.
“I think it’s going to create a lot more issues and problems on the ground because of what the law allows a person to do and carry and grow. I don’t think it was best for us at the state level that it was passed,” he said. “We’re the first responders, so we’re the ones that are going to be dealing with it.”
He said the department’s K-9s will not need to be retrained, as they are already trained to deal with people carrying medical marijuana.
“On the safety issue, are we going to see an increase in impaired drivers?” he said. “I’m looking at the safety of the community. … How it’s going to create problems for business owners. It’s going to spill over and create a lot of problems.”
Lucas said local governments, such as cities and villages, could pass local bylaws restricting marijuana use.
“We’ll just have to see when the law comes out, how it’s written and how it’s enforced,” Lucas said. “Whatever the law is, myself and the rest of my office will follow the colour of the law, but if there’s an issue or a problem, we won’t tolerate it either.”
Barnesville Police Chief Rocky Sirianni said he expected minimal impact on operations.
“Fortunately, we made the decision not to train our K-9s on marijuana because a lot of that was being discussed at the time. We were trying to get ahead of it, and the other thing was that there hadn’t been many marijuana cases prosecuted for some time. (The Bureau of Criminal Investigations) wasn’t really testing for marijuana unless you had a pretty big trafficking, serious case, so as far as the K-9 goes, it’s not going to affect us.
Sirianni said he expected some regulation of public use.
“Just like in most areas you can’t be drunk in public or walk down the street and have a beer or whatever, I expect you won’t be able to walk down the street in public and smoke a joint. There’s going to be regulations as to where and how,” he said.
“Just like alcohol, you’re going to have to be careful about driving. Just because you can now legally possess or use marijuana, there’s still laws about driving after using marijuana. You still need to watch out for OVIs or anything else related to marijuana use. Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean you can use it and drive,” Sirianni said.
“We’ll just have to see what the future holds in terms of what kind of societal impact it’s going to have,” he said. “It’s all going to be new. It’s going to be a learning experience to see what kind of changes or what kind of impact it’s going to have on law enforcement, but we’re just going to roll with the punches and see how everything goes and work with it.”
Bellaire Police Chief J.J. Watson also said the election was too early to make a statement.
Ohio State Highway Patrol posts are referring all questions to the Columbus office. According to an emailed statement from spokesman Lieutenant Nathan E. Dennis, the patrol is reviewing the initiated statute and will provide further information when there is adequate time to review it.