How to encourage millions of Americans to not call 911 to report a crime

If your house is on fire, or a burglar is breaking in, or you’re being raped or mugged, you’d better not be depending on a marijuana smoker to call 911 to get you some help.  Not that we’re insensitive or callous to your victimization, it’s just that we’ll be joining your arsonist / thief / rapist / mugger in the squad car if we call.

(WCAX Vermont) MARSHFIELD, Vt. (AP) – Police say a Marshfield man is facing marijuana charges after he unintentionally dialed 911.

State police say they received a 911 hang-up call last week from the home of 52-year-old Andrew Tibbittes but when the dispatcher called back, the phone was busy so police went to the home.

Police say no one answered the door, so the trooper walked around the house where he says he found four marijuana plants growing, according to the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.

The trooper knocked on the door again and woke up Tibbittes who said there was no emergency.

Police searched the home and found two more marijuana plants.

Tibbittes is facing a felony charge of growing marijuana and a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession.

Marijuana prohibition not only makes criminals out of people that aren’t and crimes out of actions that aren’t, it also takes away law enforcement resources from actions that are crimes and discourages non-criminals from being good citizens and reporting those crimes.  I have personally called 911 three times this year, once for gunshots I heard just down the block in my neighborhood.  But if I weren’t a registered medical marijuana caregiver in Oregon, I would not have called and just crossed my fingers that someone else on the block would call.  Even though we’re decrim here in Oregon, a $500-$1000 fine and loss of my drivers’ license for six months would be enough for me to think twice about calling 911.