Ballard v. Kuntz - Prop 215

Medical Marijuana Question posed to Calaveras County Candidates Captain Eddie Ballard and Lt. Gary Kuntz on a Q&A hosted by ThePineTree.net, a premiere source of news in Calaveras County. The questions were posed here:


Pine Tree Discussion

The press has described, and I think fairly, Sheriff Downum as an Outspoken critic of medicinal cannabis and I think the policies of the Sheriff's department accurately reflect that approach and he has certainly admitted that.

How is or is your approach to Medicinal Cannabis different; especially in terms of aggressive enforcement, patients rights protected by Prop 215

While Calaveras Cannabis endorses neither candidate, as neither have provided an appropriate response or indicated an appropriate level of knowledge or understanding of the issue, we did need a fact check.

Captain Ballard's Statement: "Prior to proposition 215 and after proposition 215... our stat's after 1996 almost went away for personal possession..."

According to the clerk at Calaveras Superior Court, from Jan 1 2009 to April 1 2010 there were 229 cases filed by the district attorney involving the charge 11357(b) H&S, personal possession under 1 ounce.

According to Kuntz, although considered unverified, there were potentially hundreds referred to the DA and unfiled.

Kuntz statement that "if they have a scale we know they are a dealer" is outrageous and indicates an ignorance of the subject. As an FYI: Quite often, those obtaining marijuana like to check the weight of their purchase.