Prop 19 Madness: Sheriff Baca of Los Angeles Declares Vigilante Justice

Pot use and possession doesn't inherently hurt anyone, and it wouldn't even be illegal anymore under the laws he is supposed to enforce as an agent of a county in the state of California. Still, a dangerous strongman holed up in Southern California who goes by the colorful sobriquet of "L.A . County Sheriff Lee Baca" vows that the armed band at his command will continue to assault, extort, and even kidnap people for using or selling a plant he has an irrational animus against…and he reserves the right, as in all his official actions, to harm or kill you if you continue to resist his commands.

At least when Attorney General Holder says he will still ruin your life over pot even if California's citizen Proposition 19 passes legalizing personal growth and possession, he's got his own set of still-existing laws to rely on. But Baca? He is the law, he told the L.A. Times last week:

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Friday his deputies' marijuana enforcement would not change even if Proposition 19, which would legalize the drug in California, passes Nov. 2.

"Proposition 19 is not going to pass, even if it passes," Baca said in a news conference Friday at sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park….

Baca came out against the measure early on, joining forces with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to try to defeat it….

Baca said Friday local law enforcement agencies should abide by federal drug laws prohibiting marijuana even if the state measure passes.

"[Prop.] 19 has no effect on what we're going to do," he said.

Matt Welch earlier today keeps summing up California state media's idiotic objections to 19.