Former SJ Top Cop Calls for Legalizing Pot
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KCBS) _ A group of retired police officers and judges is taking a stand in favor of a proposal that would legalize marijuana in California.
Joseph McNamara served as San Jose's police chief for 15 years. He said legalizing marijuana for adults would bring common sense to law enforcement.
"I think it does far more damage to be treating people who smoke marijuana or use marijuana as criminals than it is to have them smoke it," said McNamara.
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McNamara is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
That group has argued that marijuana is already widely available to children, despite government efforts to ban it.
"They can get it easily because they're dealing with drug dealers," said McNamara. "But if they tried to get something that's regulated, they have to produce identification showing their age."
Critics of Proposition 19 argue that legalizing marijuana will make California less safe and could result in the state losing billions of dollars in federal aid for not complying with U.S. drug-free requirements.
Gubernatorial hopefuls Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown, along with Senator Barbara Boxer and her challenger, Carly Fiorina all oppose Proposition 19.
