LAUD POT BUSTS

In Our View

THE ISSUE:

Two pot busts have occurred in Washington County in the last week.
OUR OPINION: We laud local law enforcement and its effort to enforce
federal and state law's prohibition on marijuana. Any tips should be
reported to the authorities.

The law has been broken and those responsible must be brought to
justice. Detectives got a tip from a hunter who discovered a
marijuana farm with 1,000 plants west of New Harmony on Sept. 1. Five
days later, about 2,130 marijuana plants were removed from the Pine
Valley Mountain near the Oak Grove campgrounds.

Whether the large gardens were related or not is still unknown. The
Washington County Drug Task Force is scouring other possible growth
sites in its investigation. It could use resident assistance because
there are no suspects in connection with either cultivation.

Despite the ongoing debate on the prohibition of marijuana, it is
laudable of local law enforcement's efforts to enforce federal law.
Considering a pound of marijuana can be sold for $1,500 to $2,500 on
the street, it is a profitable commodity some people are willing to
risk with incarceration and felony charges.

It is a comfort to know that people who are willing to take that
gamble, and are caught, will be charged and prosecuted to the full
extent of the law because it is taken seriously in this next (sic) of
the woods. Anti-marijuana laws dominate throughout the United States
though two-thirds of the states have already either reduced penalties
or have such reductions under consideration, the Drug Library reported.

Yet, Utah has stayed steady in its marijuana prohibition stance with
pot busts, such as those of the last week, that show no tolerance for
the breaking of the law.

Contradictory state and federal laws are one of the culprits of the
marijuana debate, but the fact is that as long as the federal laws
exist, which prohibit medical marijuana use, any person in the states
that legislatively approved its use - medicinally or otherwise - will
be at risk for arrest and imprisonment from federal law enforcement.
We praise the local law enforcement officials for its attempt to do the same.

That's why any suspicious cultivation or use should be reported to
the authorities. It's the law - whether you agree with it or not.