With respect those currently leveling criticisms at the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office for its decision to bring charges against a pair of Olalla residents accused of abusing the privilege of using marijuana for medical purposes, we’d urge you to consider the source.
Or at least consider the motives of the source.
In the wake of the county’s unsuccessful prosecution of Bruce Olson during March, followed by the not-unrelated decision to drop its case against Glenn Musgrave this month, there have been a handful of noisy complaints about Kitsap Prosecutor Russ Hauge for pursuing the cases in the first place.
But as far as we can determine, these have all come from the sort of outspoken medical marijuana proponents who marched and carried signs outside the courthouse while the first trial was being conducted rather than from anyone who took, shall we say, a more nuanced view of the proceedings.
His critics accuse Hauge of conducting a witch hunt directed at innocent victims merely trying to medicate their own pain, but why would he do that?
Medical marijuana is legal under certain guidelines in Washington, and it certainly wouldn’t benefit Hauge to be portrayed as persecuting sick people. This suggests to us, at least, that just maybe Hauge, his staff and the investigating officers actually did believe Olson and Musgrave were producing more than they needed and selling the drug to others.
If so, even if they couldn’t prove their charges, that doesn’t make this an Inquisition or Hauge a latter-day Torquemada.
No humane person would deny someone sick or suffering a means of releiving their misery, and we assume Hauge and the rest of the Prosecutor’s Office staff are humane people.
But if hounding legitimate medical marjuana users is wrong, so, too, is exploiting a well-intentioned law just to get yourself stoned or sell drugs to others who do.
And if that’s what Hauge believes someone is doing, he not only has a right to prosecute them but a duty, as well.
The fact that one case was lost and another dropped in no way suggests there won’t be more that deserve prosecution, or that Hauge should feel constrained from doing so.
