SUPERVISORS OK DEA FUNDS FOR POT ERADICATION

LAKEPORT -- The county accepted $175,000 in funding from the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration Tuesday, earmarked for the Lake
County Sheriff's Office for the eradication of illegal marijuana. And
in keeping with previous years when the funding has come up for
approval, the Board of Supervisors was divided.

Dist. 1 Supervisor Ed Robey pulled the item for discussion from the
board's consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda are voted on all
at one time by the board because they are expected to be routine and
non-controversial. Robey took exception to the funding agreement, as
he has for each of the 10 years he's been a supervisor. Usually, he
said, he catches it before it's placed on the consent agenda and
requests that it be a timed item.

The agreement between the county and the DEA specifies that the funds
are meant primarily to pay law enforcement officers "while they are
actively engaged in the cannabis eradication process," as well as per
diem equipment costs, such as rent and fuel for vehicles and aircraft
used in the process.

Chairman Jeff Smith said he and Robey had toured the Mendocino
National Forest last year while the Lake County Sheriff's Office was
pulling up and hauling away plants from massive marijuana gardens in
the national forest last year.

"It was unbelievable seeing the garbage, the miles of drip line
strung through a national forest ... cutting down trees in a national
forest .. killing animals because they're coming into the farm ...
(the funding) is slowing it down and it's letting people know that we
aren't just going to stand by and let them keep doing this kind of
thing," said Smith.

Robey said he pulled the item because essentially, the plan isn't working.

Citing the nation's war on drugs, Robey said, "This has been going on
since the Nixon administration, and it basically has not worked. It's
maintained a lucrative black market. The approach to it is to try to
eliminate the supply, and I'm much more in favor of trying to
eliminate the demand. So I have a hard time supporting a program, as
well intentioned as it is, that just hasn't proved successful."

Dist. 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing explained that from a marketing
perspective, the approach promoted by the DEA agreement would
continue to drive up the cost of illegal marijuana, making the
farming operation in the forest profitable. "I don't know any other
way to take a stand than to say, it doesn't work, we won't take the
money for this.' ... As much as I hate to see what's going on in the
national forest, it doesn't stop as long as the demand side is so
strong. In every program I've ever been involved in in marketing, you
work the demand side of the equation -- that's the side of the
equation that really effects whether or not these guys are making money."

The idea of writing state and federal representatives was brought up,
but Brown indicated that there hadn't been satisfactory response in
the past. Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox pointed out that
just like each of the supervisors, none of them individually had the
power to fix the problem, though past responses had expressed
agreement with the board's frustration.

"These people are armed in our forest," interjected Sheriff Rod
Mitchell. "They are destroying public lands and putting the public at
risk. I will spend General Fund money to combat this problem, and
this (DEA funding) offsets those General Fund costs." Mitchell
pointed to a connection between illegal marijuana use and
methamphetamine abuse, which Robey and others identified as a
priority for Lake County.

Dist. 5 Supervisor Rob Brown commented that Robey's and Rushing's
logic indicated that law enforcement should take a similar approach
to other crimes. "If we use the logic that we're not stopping it, so
why apply for funding, then we apply that to burglaries, murder,
elder abuse, child molestation -- all of these things that we can't
stop, but we've got to continue seeking funding to do what we can," said Brown.

"Putting money into catching burglars doesn't create a lucrative
black market," said Robey in a later interview. Robey said he would
like to see the DEA give discretion to the county as to how the money
can be used, so it can go to combat methamphetamine abuse.

"The reason I raised it as an issue is simply to make people think
about it. We can put the money to better use. We can have a more
effective program for substance abuse."