80-year-old Oregon woman booked, 68-year-old man shot and killed by police over marijuana

This is wall-to-wall coverage on my local evening news – all four stations.  Mulino is about 27 miles due south of NORML West Coast Media Headquarters (a.k.a. my home studio):

MULINO, Ore. (KGW)– A Mulino man was shot and killed at his home late Wednesday night, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies went to the home at 13262 S. Macksburg Rd. to arrest two people on warrants late Wednesday night, according to Detective Jeffrey Green.

The man opened the door with a firearm, according to investigators, and “a confrontation ensued.” The man was shot and killed, deputies said.

Neighbors told KGW the man who died was 68-year-old Bert Henkle. According to neighbors, Henkle had lived on the rural property more than 25 years.

Marjorie Crawford, 80, was arrested at the scene and transported to an area hospital by ambulance for treatment of an unrelated medical issue before she was taken to jail. Neighbors said she was Henkle’s girlfriend.

Police said they had been investigating drug activity at the home since last fall, involving what they believe was an illegal marijuana-growing operation.

They said Crawford now faces charges for the manufacturing, delivery and possession of marijuana. She was booked at the Clackamas County Jail after a brief hospitalization.

So many lives needlessly devastated by the tragic absurdity that is adult marijuana prohibition.

An elderly man is dead and his children and grandchildren weep.

An elderly frail woman is arrested and booked and photographed like some dangerous criminal.  Her children are rushed by the blazing lights and pointed questions of local news photographers as they watch the sheriff’s deputy wheel her out of the jail.

Two police officers are grappling with their emotions as they try to imagine how they could have avoided killing a man probably not unlike their grandfathers.  Wives and children of those officers face the uncertainty of not knowing how careers will be affected.

Part of the public that has accepted medical marijuana and begrudgingly tolerated social marijuana now has to wonder why its police are shooting and killing old men over their pot gardens.  Even those who oppose marijuana have to wonder if it’s really worth shooting people over.

I watched the daughter on the evening news express disbelief that her 80-year-old mother could ever be involved with anything like growing and distributing marijuana.  As the economy slides, older people will feel the pinch.  Many who worked hard and socked away money dutifully in their 401k just saw that money disappear and they don’t have the years left to see any stimulus package work out over a decade.  I think we are going to see many more busts of older people who have no economic choice but to try to make money growing pot.

Unless we come to our senses and just legalize it already, so we don’t have to send Sheriff’s “narcotics” task forces out to serve warrants on people for gardening.