Officials slam impact of legalized pot on Colorado Springs area

In the second announcement in two days, officials again made a case for how legalized marijuana has negatively impacted El Paso County.

Positioned in front of a pile of burlap sacks containing seized pot plants and sophisticated growing equipment, Sheriff Bill Elder, Colorado Springs Police Chief Pete Carey, 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May and Drug Enforcement Administration Southeast Division Supervisor Tim Scott agreed that marijuana "is one of the biggest public safety challenges our region is facing today."

Elder made similar claims a day earlier when announcing sheriff's deputies have served more warrants so far this year - 64 - on illegal pot grows than all other crimes combined. Fifteen of those warrants were served in May, he said, and 11 in the last week.

"This is unprecedented," Elder said. "Marijuana has sidelined a lot of our (other) work."

Read more: http://gazette.com/officials-slam-impact-of-legalized-pot-on-colorado-springs-area/article/1626871

Needless to say, if you are targeting illegal grow operations then you are going to get more arrests. Perhaps the sheriff should concentrate on other criminal activities in the county.