This Sacramento Bee editorial takes note of the wild Nevada County car chase that left one man dead and put two men in jail, one charged with murder.
To maintain context, the full editorial is reprinted here. Unlike a bylined opinion column, unsigned editorials represent the collective opinion of the Sacramento Bee’s editorial board. That’s a fine distinction for the Internet crowd, perhaps, but an important one to this old newshound.
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The incident last Saturday on Tobacco Road in Nevada County was like a scene out of a 1920s gangster movie. But instead of illicit liquor, marijuana was the source of the deadly dispute.
Sheriff’s deputies say two men wearing ski masks and fake police uniforms broke into a home and stole cell phones, a camera, computer equipment and a large stash of packaged marijuana. When one robbery victim chased the suspects down Highway 49 in his truck, the suspected robbers started shooting. The pursuing truck bumped the suspects’ truck, which slammed into a tree, killing the driver.
It’s not an isolated event. Like so many other parts of California, the tiny hamlet of North San Juan has become a haven for marijuana growers. Last September, federal agents raided 10 locations in and around North San Juan, pulled up hundreds of plants and seized more than 100 pounds of processed pot.
Nevada County Sheriff Keith Royal says he’s seeing “an increasing number of serious violent crimes involving home invasion robberies where marijuana is the target.”
Along with dozens of other violent incidents, this one underscores the need to better regulate marijuana and clarify Proposition 215, the medical marijuana law voters approved in 1996.
The law and the confusing mishmash of regulations, case law and local ordinances that defined and implemented it have created a wildly lucrative but only quasi-legal pot industry. While the September raids and the most recent robbery appear to involve clearly illegal activity, at least one robbery victim claimed “he had medical needs.” Often it’s difficult for law enforcement to separate legal from illegal.
The attorney general says it’s unlawful to sell medical marijuana for a profit, but thousands are making fortunes off it nonetheless, from the doctors who hand out “recommendations” to patients, to dispensaries that sell it and the growers themselves.
Unless the law is clarified and regulation improved, pot-fueled robberies and shootouts will likely increase.
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