LA Police Chief: why not regulate marijuana?
Posted April 5, 2009
Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton is no stranger to the law. Before being appointed LA’s top cop, he served as military police during Vietnam and later served as the New York City Police Commissioner and Boston Police Commissioner. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Law Enforcement from the University of Massachusetts and was a research fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
In a press conference held this week, Chief Bratton commented on California’s current medical marijuana laws and the recent federal government position of not interfering with states’ rights. In California, a patient must obtain a doctor’s recommendation from a state-approved doctor in order to obtain marijuana from a state-licensed dispensary. While he contends that it’s too easy to obtain a doctor’s recommendation, he recognizes marijuana’s medicinal qualities and questions why it’s not regulated like other drugs are.
“I think that the policy of the federal government at this time is unfortunate. I think the policy of this state is Looney Tunes,” Bratton said Wednesday at a Parker Center news conference.
“While I fully support its use for medicinal purposes, why don’t we regulate it like we do Lipitor or Viagra,” Bratton said. “You can’t buy those two without getting it through a legitimate pharmacy. If this drug is so important and so helpful, why is it not regulated like every other drug?”
While Chief Bratton clearly doesn’t approve of the current system, he brings up a valid point - why are we not regulating marijuana as medicine like we do other drugs?
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