The pro-Measure 91 ads state that last year there were more than 13,000 arrests for marijuana possession in Oregon. This is extremely misleading. Of that number, more than 12,000 were not arrests but rather citations for possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana, a civil penalty of not more than $150 fine is all that happens, there is no record of the offense or creation of a criminal history entry against that person.

When I worked narcotics on both a federal level task force and later on a local level task force, we did not focus on users. In the federal level we worked major international smugglers or very large multistate growing and distribution operations. On the local level we worked dealers and growers, both indoor and outdoor, who were making large sums of money and selling their product to anyone who had money.

The supposed mother in one ad who says while she doesn’t use marijuana she doesn’t want one small mistake to impact her family or others due to a criminal record, not allowing them to find a job, get a loan and or mortgage. This would be no one time small amount mistake, not even for people in her generation, as possession of less than 1 ounce in Oregon has not been a crime for nearly 40 years.

I am not sure which agency the retired deputy sheriff worked 28 years for, but will say that his experience in that time frame was certainly different from mine and that of all the other officers I know and worked with. Most citations for possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana are written by patrol officers as a byproduct of a traffic stop or some other contact. In most agencies the fact that a patrol officer was issuing a citation for possession of less than 1 ounce would not have any impact on solving homicides, rapes or other major crimes. If in fact there were a major crime under investigation by the agency and the patrol officer was assigned to assist in the investigation, that officer would not be out writing citations for anything.

The above rebuttal applies as well to the former Multnomah County assistant district attorney.

As to legalization of marijuana creating sufficient revenue through taxation to support more school and law enforcement funding, not likely. OLCC is not set up to regulate, monitor, inspect and/or collect taxes and fees on marijuana. Legalization will only lead to the creation of an additional bureaucracy which will certainly consume any revenue generated by taxes on marijuana.

Unlike alcohol consumption, ingesting marijuana in any of its forms does not allow the consumer to do anything other than get high. Terms like let’s get ripped and let’s get high, didn’t just rise from nowhere.

As we all know keeping alcohol out of the hands of minors has not been successful, what would make anyone think that keeping marijuana out of their hands will be any easier. Given Washington state’s experience with legalization it is doubtful that the illegal trafficking of marijuana will cease. In Washington it is cheaper to buy dope from your local neighborhood dealer. It is also easier to get from your dealer as the licit commercial distribution has been slow to supply the legal shops with product.

I would hope that the electorate of the state of Oregon is wise enough not to fall for the hype on this measure.

— Jim Ayers is retired from Oregon State Police and lives in Redmond.