Judd: Marijuana, Justice and Gunshots

<p><i><center>Part 1 of 2</i></center></p><p>BARTOW | Legal, law-enforcement and political developments in Florida should be of concern to residents, Sheriff Grady Judd told members of the Tiger Bay Club of Polk County on Tuesday.</p><p>Judd is president of the Florida Sheriff’s Association. He has been speaking for months against a proposed state constitutional amendment to allow prescription sale of medical marijuana. Public petitions earned it a place on November’s general election ballot as Amendment 2.</p><p>The sheriff told members of the nonpartisan political club that the effort is “a wolf in sheep’s clothes.”</p><p>It is “designed to tug at the heart strings and compassion” of residents, Judd said.</p><p>”This is a well-played, well-thought-out fraud against the people of the state of Florida — when their ultimate goal is to legalize recreational marijuana.”</p><p>”They’re taking advantage of some of the most sick in the state of Florida.” Judd said the proposed amendment’s language — which was approved by the Florida Supreme Court in January — is so lax that nearly anyone would be able to get a prescription for medical marijuana if more than 60 percent of voters approve, and thus pass, the measure.</p><p>Judd spoke on a number of topics beyond medical marijuana. As is the club’s practice, after his opening speech, he answered written questions from members attending the lunch meeting.</p><p><b>JUDICIAL SYSTEM</b></p><p>Asked if the judicial system is helpful in his law-enforcement efforts, Judd said: “In the state of Florida today, we are at a 42-year low in crime. The reason we are at a 42-year low in crime today is because we have get-tough crimes. We have minimum mandatories. You have to serve 85 percent of your sentence.</p><p>”So, not only have we locked up the really bad guys who commit the majority of the crime — keeping them away from society — but we’re sending a message to the others,” Judd said.</p><p>”When I look and see that crime is 66 percent lower in unincorporated Polk County today than it was in 1997, I know that our criminal-justice system works,” he said.</p><p>Judd makes a strong argument that tough sentencing reduces crime.</p><p><b>’WARNING SHOT’</b></p><p>Judd was asked for his opinion on the “Warning Shot” bill.</p><p>Introduced in 2013 by Rep. Neil Combee, R-Polk City, the bill gained no ground. This year, Combee reintroduced the bill as HB 89, to be called the “Defense of Life, Home and Property Act” if passed into law. After substantial discussion in committees and on the House floor, the House passed the bill 93-24 on March 20.</p><p>”You know, Neil Combee and I are good friends, and he and I have a vast disagreement on that bill,” Judd said, noting that the purpose of the bill has changed. “It’s not a warning-shot bill. It just allows them to deviate from 10-20-Life.” The 10-20-Life Law sets mandatory-minimum sentences for use of a gun in a forcible felony.</p><p>”The examples that we’ve provided to Neil Combee — and I’ll explain one to you, and as I explained it to Neil — cause concern,” Judd said. “We had a guy. He was allowing a young man to live with his daughter in his house.</p><p>”Well, they had a dustup one afternoon, and the daughter said, ‘Well, I’m leaving with him.’ He said, ‘No you’re not.’ He reached out and grabbed her around the throat, and shot one round through a book bag or a backpack, and didn’t hit the young man — but he fired in a house and committed an aggravated assault. So, of course, we arrested him. That’s a 10-20-Life case.”</p><p>The State Attorney’s Office offered a plea agreement, which the defendant turned down. He insisted that his attorney take the case to trial, Judd said. “They found him guilty.”</p><p>Beyond that, “I said, ‘Neil, buddy, where you live on the Moore Road, you could shoot guns all day long and can’t hit anything, the way you shoot,” Judd said. “But you start firing warning shots in Miami or Tampa, you’re going to hit somebody.’ And he agreed, by the way.”</p><p>Making the law treat a missed gunshot fired in self-defense the same as if a shot had hit its target is logical. It has the potential for misuse, however, and could run afoul of the argument for tough sentencing.</p><p><b>ALCOHOL VS. MARIJUANA</b></p><p>Judd was asked which is more dangerous, alcohol or marijuana: “They’re equally dangerous because it’s a rare event — when I look at events that cause death and anguish — I see that there was an alcohol content and that there was a marijuana content. … I don’t think you can separate one from the other.”</p><p>He added: “Every drug is dangerous. Every drug is bad if it is abused.”</p><p>”I suggest to you that if marijuana was legalized — let’s talk total legalization — we would make more marijuana-regulation-related arrests, and more overburden the system, than we make marijuana arrests as it currently stands because those who choose to use it in violation of the law do their best to keep it hidden,” Judd said.</p><p>Judd’s position on recreational drugs — legal, in the case of alcohol, and illegal in nearly all other cases — makes sense. In the long run, given society’s course, he may get a chance to see his ideas tested.</p><p>[ Glenn Marston is editorial page editor. Email: glenn.marston@theledger.com. Phone: 863-802-7600. ]</p><p>Next Sunday: Gangs and guns.</p>

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Judd: Marijuana, Justice and Gunshots