Prosecutors may not crack down on marijuana possession like they did decades ago. But Leon State Attorney Jack Campbell said laws outlawing pot remain valuable to prosecutors dispensing justice.
The top prosecutor in Florida’s 2nd Judicial Circuit, Campbell has criticized a ballot measure that could legalize recreational weed in Florida. One of the most prominent Democrats in Florida opposed to Amendment 3, he said the criminal justice system can responsibly handle execution of Florida’s laws with discretion and should not lose a valuable tool.
“For many years now, certainly before medical marijuana, I think the state’s policies on marijuana have evolved, certainly, with this office,” Campbell said. “We’ve been doing diversion for many years, which results in a dismissal of charges. There’s been various forms of what’s often called civil-side, civil citation, but the prosecutorial discretion concerning marijuana has evolved over the last years.”
Prosecutors adjust constantly in applying the law as the Legislature makes changes. Campbell points to a change recently in application of laws around hemp and other related products. That has required differentiating between products like CBD and narcotics with higher THC levels.
He acknowledges that the approval of medical marijuana in a 2016 constitutional amendment marked a significant change in policy. But he said societal attitudes around cannabis use changed over time, and so has treatment of the substance by the criminal justice system.
“Probably in the ‘70s and ‘80s, you had the height of the Say No to Drugs campaign, and as cannabis has become more popular in society, we have kind of evolved as we’ve been dealing with other drugs,” he said. “Now having said that, there’s a lot of crimes that are marijuana-related that we see as a real problem.”
While even some law enforcement voices like Bradford County Sheriff Curtis Smith have said marijuana isn’t tied to as many crimes as legal alcohol and opioids, Campbell sees a connection between cannabis and other violent crimes. He sees murders, manslaughters, rapes and robberies that all stem from drug use, and marijuana remains by far the most common illegal drug being sold and moved in his district.
He notably represents a judicial circuit that covers both Tallahassee, the state’s capital and home to two majority state universities, and Gadsden County, where medical marijuana growers have become a major part of the agriculture economy.
He still sees a black market of marijuana, much of it laced with more life-threatening drugs like fentanyl. But the agency also sees plenty of traffic homicides where alcohol isn’t found in drivers’ possession, but marijuana can be found in the cars.
“I’m seeing violent crime tied to marijuana use on a regular basis,” Campbell said.
Moreover, he’s cautious about entering a world of navigating legal marijuana, something that has complicated the lives of prosecutors in other states. More than a century after the repeal of alcohol prohibition, traffic cops are all equipped with breathalyzers and agencies can easily test blood alcohol levels.
Amendment 3 would not legalize driving while high on weed, but there remain few tools for law enforcement to easily determine intoxication levels with smoked substances. Most tests for THC in the system show traces of the drug dating back for a month, well after a user feels the effects of smoking marijuana.
He also notes that strains of marijuana on the market today remain increasingly potent.
“It’s the difference between drinking beer, and drinking 151 whole grain alcohol. It’s a whole other order of magnitude,” Campbell said.
Of course, many proponents of legalization see an uncontrolled black market run by criminals as an argument for decriminalizing — and regulating — recreational pot. But Campbell said it’s naïve to think that allowing legal dispensaries to sell products will stop street dealers from shopping their own wares.
“Just like we dealt with 100 years ago, you didn’t immediately put all the bootleggers out of business,” Campbell said. “My drug dealers are not going to go away. They’re not going to say, ‘Okay, now that you legalized weed, I’m going to find a good, hard-working job.’ My people are going to go and sell to people who can’t get it legally, so people under 18 or 21.”
Amendment 3 would allow adults to possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana, but only those 21 and older. Campbell worries a teen market will still rely on criminal enterprise, meaning customers who lack money or the ability to distinguish between safe and unsafe products.
And it will be harder to bust dealers. Right now, Campbell said police can take action against dealers based on “plain smell.”
“Once we have it legalized, I have that ability to kind of find out what’s going on eliminated because it’s legal, and I can’t sit there and do the search and seizure,” Campbell said, “and I can’t sit there and determine whether this is legal weed or illegal weed, which is where I think we’re going to head.”
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