By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
With the legalization of recreational marijuana in Missouri, the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force will shift its focus to the education of youth.
Commander of the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force Shawn Collie says education will be important, stating just because marijuana is legal, it doesn’t mean it isn’t harmful.
Collie also questions what exactly the incentive was to legalize marijuana.
"Unfortunately, a lot of times, and we always explain to people, when governments look at legalizing something there's probably a reason why, and it's not necessarily that they're looking at the people, but a lot of times they may be looking at that tax revenue," Collie tells host of the KFEQ Hotline Barry Birr.
"And so, when you're legalizing something for tax revenue, is that the best choice?"
Collie says law enforcement hopes to prevent youth from thinking just because it's legal, they should have no restrictions on its use.
With the legalization of recreational marijuana, Collie says while they aren't advocating for marijuana use, they are working to make sure people purchase from dispensaries
"With that legalization we are trying to say hey look if you're deciding to use marijuana or going to use marijuana, just like with our adults, use the dispensaries," Collie explains. "The street dealers they have no type of government regulations to make sure that marijuana is still within the limits allowed under the law, you have no idea what it could be mixed with."
Collie says even with the legalization of marijuana there are still many things that go into it, such as limits and where you can purchase, which is why education is important.
The Buchanan County Drug Strike force is focused more on education than on enforcement when it comes to new drug trends.
Collie says a typical trend is that as they see drugs pop up on the east and west coast, it eventually makes its way here.
Collie says with these trends that's why the focus is more on education than enforcement.
"Educating the youth, on our side we've really started to see drug abuse or experimentation with drugs and vape products at a younger age," Collie points out. "And so, we're working a lot with the school district, with the health department, the St. Joe Youth Alliance, in trying to educate the youth and making them aware of that."
Collie says from there they also work a lot with the drug court program and treatment facilities about what they are seeing and educating them.