DEA to take lead on marijuana eradication
From our weekly issue dated October 07, 2009
Harvest time approaches. (Photo by Michelle Binker, Illinois Valley News )
Earlier this summer, Josephine County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) joined Rogue Area Drug Enforcement (RADE), the county’s interagency anti-drug unit.
Sheriff Gil Gilbertson discussed the arrangement during a KAJO Radio interview Wednesday, Sept. 30.
JCSO had been a member of the Josephine Interagency Narcotics Team (JOINT). But when the Oregon State Police detective assigned to JOINT was reassigned, JCSO pulled out in spring 2008 due to a lack of funds. JOINT was disbanded as a result.
Gilbertson said that his decision to leave JOINT was motivated by the severe cash crunch his agency was facing at the time.
“It was strictly a monetary decision. We just couldn’t afford it,” Gilbertson said. “It was costing us about $400,000 a year.”
Efforts began to construct a new interagency drug team. RADE then was formed, with participation from OSP, Grants Pass Dept. of Public Safety, Josephine County Community Corrections and the District Attorney’s office. JCSO initially was excluded, but since has been added to RADE.
Gilbertson said that he is comfortable with JCSO’s role in RADE, as his agency is no longer heading the area’s anti-drug coordination.
“We’re not bearing the burden of that expense any longer,” he said.
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Despite that, Gilbertson maintains that JCSO “never stopped working drugs,” and always had two deputies assigned specifically to handle those kinds of cases. But JCSO’s entry into RADE doesn’t mean that the agency will take the lead in marijuana eradication activities.
The fall season typically coincides with the harvest cycle for the illegal crop, which grows throughout Josephine County. However, Gilbertson said that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency will be in charge of coordinating any large marijuana busts in the area.
“It’s an operation that is leaning more and more towards the federal level dealing with it,” Gilbertson said. “The feds have kind of taken over in a sense.” JCSO will play more of a support role in marijuana eradication, Gilbertson said.
“That’s kind of where it’s headed, I believe,” noted the sheriff. “We basically do the grunt work. We go pull the weeds.”
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