Police and Prison Guard Groups Fighting Marijuana

About fifty percent of the cash generated to tear down a ballot measure to end the prohibition of recreational cannabis in California is being funded by law enforcements as well as prison guard groups, in absolute fear that they might not have the influx of money that they have become so used to.

Cash from the drug war has become a very popular source of money for areas that police wish to focus on. Large subsidies from the governments definitely help out law enforcement agencies. In addition to this, the constant arrests for minor drug crimes keep the prison business lucrative.

Those against the cannabis legalization bill, which is prepared to be presented to voters this autumn, has been set up by John Lovell, who has been lobbying for police officers and prison guard supervisors for quite some time. For instance, Lovell created the Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, a group that aimed to stop marijuana legalization, raised $60,000 earlier this year.

The money came from groups that represent police officers. Here are some of those groups: “the California Police Chiefs Association, the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, the Los Angeles Police Protective League’s Issues PAC, and the California Correctional Supervisor’s Organization.” There are also other donors such as “the California Teamsters Union and the California Hospital Association, and Sam Action,” which is a group against legalization and was started by former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-Mass., and David Frum, who used to write speeches for George W. Bush.

Police officers in Minnesota, Washington, as well as some other states have been conversing about the laws around cannabis reform and reported that they have been losing money as a result. Police are subsidized by the Justice Department in order to run drug enforcement programs, especially those that are tended towards cannabis. Now, officers around the country are fighting to keep receiving that funding.