i think this was good policing - marijuana is a minor drug in my opinion, no worse than alcohol and it is allowed for medical use - eventually it should be decriminalized entirely.
however, robbing a person at gunpoint is a very harmful act and should always be reported.

agree with Karen - thank you MV Police for showing sanity and making what sounds like the reasonable and warranted decision here.

This story sounds a bit strange. How could the pot dealer prove he was robbed except by basically admitting to committing the crime of selling pot?

At any rate, if the reporting is accurate, I also commend the MV police. One of the many negative consequences of our ill-advised War on Drugs is that real crimes like armed robbery of a pot dealer will generally go unreported and thus unpunished. Marijuana has many benefits and is "far safer than many foods we commonly consume" (ruling of the DEA, 1988). Armed robbery, on the other hand, is a real and very serious crime.

[Full text of the DEA ruling: Web Link

From the report:

"In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we
commonly consume. For example, eating ten raw potatoes can
result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible
to eat enough marijuana to induce death.
Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically
active substances known to man. " (pp. 58-59)

Fantastic job MVPD. I appreciate the way you represented the community in this affair and showed a focus to keeping us all safe from violent criminals. Thumbs up!

You can all go back to smoking your harmless pot now and pretend that it doesn't support a much wider criminal culture more deadly drugs that threaten our youth. Drugs, including pot, offer nothing to society, but do invite the sort of crime this article reports on.

[Post removed; disrespectful and offensive language]

Apparently it is a war. It is just not at our door step. Just ask President Felipe Calderon.

LA Times Website:

Web Link

Maggies Madness Blog:

Web Link

To Liz Wiley, who has been AWFULLY busy these days, is it too late to go back and get that pot seller?? He was breaking the law! Are you picking and choosing which laws to enforce? Is that the way we do things in Mtn. View? If so, I am leaving for a safer community.

This is ridiculous - the drug dealer should be arrested since he admitted to it - this should be at least enough get a search warrant to get the "hard evidence" that the chief speaks of. I would be willing to bet that this dealer does business with local teens. There have been several drug related deaths of young people in Mountain View in recent years (Jeff Johnson murder, Chase Rodgers overdose) - and not arresting this dealer contributes to the problem.

MVPD is basically saying that dealing marijuana is no big deal which could not be further from the truth.

Drug dealers need to be off of the street!! This is absolutely ridiculous that people think that it's not a serious crime. By not arresting that drug dealer it's telling other drug dealers that it's okay to report their stolen pot or go to the cops if they have any other "drug related" problem. I agree with "shocked" that these local drug dealers are probably doing drug deals with the local teens... MVPD really needs to start cracking down on these drug dealers and all the other idiots who are ruining the once beautiful and PEACEFUL Mountain View. It's really a shame...

Jay: Yes, pot is virtually harmless, as documented by the DEA itself back in 1988 in the judicial ruling I cited. Almost all the damage done by pot and other illegal drugs is a result of prohibition. Just as alcohol prohibition in the 1920s resulted in the rise of violent gangster alcohol dealers, drug prohibition today has the same predictable result.

QM: Again, the tragic violence in Mexico is not caused by drugs. It is caused by prohibition. The way to end the horrible violence in Mexico (and Columbia, Bolivia, Oakland and East Palo Alto) is to *decriminalize and regulate drugs,* just as alcohol is decriminalized and regulated.

localmom, Shocked and Also Shocked: Do you really mean to equate pot selling with *armed robbery?* I mean, really? Marijuana, as documented by the DEA itself in the judicial ruling I cited in my previous post, is "safer than many foods we commonly consume." 40 million Americans have tried pot, and an estimated 1 in 10 use it regularly.

You really think someone who sells pot to consenting adults should not be able to report an armed robbery? THAT is your idea of making MV safer?

Kudos again to the MV police for showing better judgment than many MV residents, and for actually using police resources to solve real crimes. I genuinely feel safer knowing at least one armed robber is off the streets.

This is funny. The person reporting has a lot of nerve even reporting it. Regardless of how "harmless" marijuana is...it is still illegal. The police should have just laughed and moved on to more important things.
Reminded me of a 'Cops' program where a crackhead waved police over to arrest her connection for stealing her $20.00 she gave him to get her crack.

To those who are concerned, police could not legally arrest the dealer. Police spokesperson Liz Wylie just sent me an email clarifying this.

"The penal code charge is 'possession of marijuana for sales.' There is no 'attempted' section for this crime. He didn’t end up committing the crime of drug dealing because the act was not completed. And the marijuana was stolen, so there is no possession. A confession is not enough to arrest somebody, no matter how serious the crime. We can never arrest based on a confession alone."

SO Mr DeBolt... I hope Liz Wylie is not a police officer and just a spokesperson. So if there is no "attempt" meaning there was no possession then how was it stolen? The possession for sales was admitted to by his statement and once this case goes to court and the "victim" testifies that he/she was in "possession" for sales then he/she is should be charged. Thank you for the testimony now the district attorney has what she needs to not only charge the robber but also the dealer….THANK YOU. Hey, DA Carr, “Are you reading this?”
How many times are we going to hear about a case gone bad involving a "marijuana dealer?" Let's not forget, "Johnson was murdered during a marijuana deal in the parking lot of the Happi House restaurant." Let's not forget, "Former actor John Barrymore III is recovering from an attack at his Mountain View home allegedly by a group of teenagers who were trying to steal his large stash of marijuana." I am sure that large stash was for medical use too...Ms Wylie, please just put out your press release with just the facts...no need for clarifying emails. It just makes the police look stupid. Don’t let the dealers off the hook so fast… you put yourself in this situation by breaking the law in first place.

Peacelove:
I agree with you. The Governor’s efforts to legalize the possession of one ounce of marijuana by a legal adult would reduce the amount of crime as it relates to marijuana trafficking. Any adult 18 and over should be able to walk into a marijuana dispensary and purchase an ounce of marijuana, and be taxed at the time of purchase. Growing it should be left to the medical users. Cultivation by individuals makes it difficult to tax the revenue. I imagine the availability of high quality marijuana at a dispensary, would discourage home growing for the average daily user. California already has very strict smoking laws, and Marijuana use should be lumped into the existing cigarette smoking laws. Smoking marijuana on the job or in public could also be treated the same way alcohol laws are enforced.

I might be wrong, but if you don't give the seller immunity to testify, then any attorney would tell him to "take the 5th" on the stand during the trail of the robber. The seller would not want to incriminate himself under oath if he risked getting charged. Without the testimony of the victim there would be no way to convict the robber. So from a practical purpose, it is worth giving the seller immunity to get a conviction of an armed robber.

What kinda weed was it?

PeaceLove, you liberal pro-druggies are all the same. We in the United States are always being labeled responsible for everything (global warming, the root cause of terrorism, eveil capitalism, the recession etc) but we are not responsible for the drug war in Mexico?!?!? Oh please... and the drug war is Mexico is hardly about "innocent" pot use, it's about heroin and cocaine. And check your facts. The US is driving the illegal drug market and by extension the violence in Mexico. The demand is mostly made up by selfish, indulgent people that lack discipline, self-control, and morals.

And before you keep echoing the same thing about decriminalizing and regulating drugs, which I'll assume you are referring to all the marijuana and cocaine and heroin coming from Mexico, I suppose you have an answer as to how methods will be created to prevent legal drug users from getting behind the wheels of their vehicles under the influence and killing innocent people.

pot alone has never hurt anyone, legalise it, tax it and get the economy going again!!!!

WHAT KINDA POT WAS IT? DO YOU HAVE MORE FOR SALE? I'LL GO BY MI PUEBLO.