Annapolis Police Chief Cites Marijuana Death Hoax in Testimony Against Legalization

By Thomas H. Clarke
ANNAPOLIS, MD — During a Senate hearing on bills to legalize and decriminalize marijuana on Tuesday, Annapolis Police Chief Michael Pristoop, testifying against the bills, cited a viral internet hoax claiming 37 people died from marijuana overdoses the first day marijuana was legalized in Colorado.

“The first day of legalization, that’s when Colorado experienced 37 deaths that day from overdose on marijuana,” Pristoop said in testimony at Tuesday’s Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing. “I remember the first day it was decriminalized there were 37 deaths.”
Chief Pristoop was immediately corrected by the marijuana legalization bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery).
“Unless you have some other source for this, I’m afraid I’ve got to spoil the party here,” Sen. Raskin said. “Your assertion that 37 people died of a marijuana overdose in Colorado was a hoax on the DailyCurrant.”
“The only person I’ve ever seen overdose on marijuana had a big snack and fell asleep,” added Sen. Nancy Jacobs (R-Harford).
Despite the correction from the Senators, Chief Pristoop stood by his claim.
“If it was a misquote, then I’ll stand behind the mistake,” Pristoop said. “But I’m holding on to information I was provided.”
The Annapolis Police Department issued a statement later in the day via Facebook apologizing for the misinformed Chief’s testimony:

On Tuesday February 25, 2013 Chief Michael Pristoop testified in front of the Maryland Senate Judiciary Committee opposing the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana.  During his testimony the Chief indicated a number of deaths occurred in Colorado on the first day of marijuana legalization in that State. Chief Pristoop, after conducting additional research, discovered that the numbers presented were not accurate but an urban myth.

“I apologize for the information I provided concerning the deaths. I believed the information I obtained was accurate but I now know the story is nothing more than an urban legend,” Chief Pristoop stated. “This does not take away from the other facts presented in opposition to legalization or the good work of the Maryland Chiefs and Maryland Sheriffs Associations.”
Retired Maryland State Police Major Neil Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, called the chief’s statement “embarrassing,” tweeting that “Cops need to work with change, not against it.”

Tuesday’s hearings by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee were on Senate Bill 658, which would legalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, allow the personal cultivation of up to 6 marijuana plants by those over the age of 21, and create a system of retail marijuana stores, cultivation facilities, and marijuana product manufacturers; and Senate Bill 364, which would decriminalize the possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana, imposing a $100 fine and eliminate the possibility of jail time or a court appearance.

While marijuana bills have growing support among lawmakers in both chambers of the Maryland legislature, Governor Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, said earlier this year that he is opposed to marijuana legalization in the state, which could slow the bills’ progress.
O’Malley, who is term-limited and can not seek reelection, gained political prominence as the former tough-on-crime mayor of Baltimore being elected governor.
Polling data, commissioned by the ACLU in 2013, found that 53 percent of Maryland voters support making marijuana legal for adults and regulating it like alcohol. Only 38 percent said they were opposed to this change.

According to a 2013 ACLU report, Maryland is home to one of the highest rates of marijuana possession arrests of any state in the country. Maryland arrests over 23,000 individuals for simple marijuana possession every year, at the cost over of 100 million dollars.
The report also found that despite only constituting 30% of the state’s population and having similar use rates to their white counterparts, African Americans account for 58% of the state’s marijuana possession arrests.

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