Marijuana seems to be almost everywhere in Sonoma County and not always where it ought to be. High school and even middle school kids smoke before, after and in-between classes. On highways and country lanes, drivers too stoned to adhere to the basic rules of the road jeopardize their lives and the lives of others.
Then, too, almost everyone in cannabis country seems to know someone who smokes, eats or consumes marijuana for a medical condition, whether it’s sleep disorders, back pain or anxiety.
Healdsburg city council member and former police sergeant, Gary Plass knows someone in particular who fits that description, though he wouldn’t provide a name at his office on Foss Creek Circle on a Friday, when he wore jeans, a vest and an American flag on his lapel.
“I have a good buddy who has been an avid dope user ever since he was a teenager,” Plass says. He adds, “He never went into the harder stuff.”
Plass doesn’t buy the old argument that says that marijuana is “the gateway drug,” as many in law enforcement often called it. Plass himself has never used marijuana, though he adds “I’ve been around it enough times to get a contact high.”
Back in the day, he had friends who took LSD and were “out of control.” That psychedelic era has shaped much of his thinking as well his vocabulary and his choice of words, though he’s also a tad apologetic about calling marijuana “dope.” Those days are mostly long gone. Indeed in some circles, if you don’t use the scientific word “cannabis” you’re in deep trouble and labeled a dinosaur.
Like many members of his generation, Plass has come a long way since the era (not that far away) when mere possession of a single marijuana cigarette or “joint” was a felony.
“Many people expect me to be against dope just because I’m an ex-cop, but I’m not,” Plass says. “I’ve heard, seen and read enough to know that medical marijuana helps patients immensely if and when they’re in pain and suffer from a chronic illness.”
He knows, too, that it’s taken years to get into the marijuana mess we’re in and that it will probably take years to get out of it. Indeed, he sees the whole “dope” conundrum, which means that he understands the complexities of a difficult situation.
Plass remembers the days before Proposition 215 — also known as “The Compassion Use Act” — became California law in 1996 and ushered in the brave new world of medical marijuana. “I’m a law and order guy,” Plass explains. “If the law says that medical marijuana is legal then I’m for it.” He adds, “For an old copper like me, 215 was a real paradigm shift.”
Plass leaned back in his chair and shared memories of his experiences as a rookie cop in Healdsburg in the mid-1970s, before the real estate boom began and before the plaza took on the identity it has today as a destination for foodies and shoppers many of them from out of town.
Moreover, he remembers, with real fondness, Chief Lou Bertoli, who hired him. While Plass had a degree in law enforcement from Santa Rosa Junior College, he only had limited experience as a reserve deputy. Bertoli liked the looks of him and signed him up.
In hindsight, the 1970s look good to Plass, though he doesn’t want to bring them back. With his eyes on the present and on the future – he’s running for reelection in June — he’s glad that American society has gone beyond outmoded notions about marijuana as a dangerous drug.
At the same time, he doesn’t want Healdsburg to go the way of cities like Denver, Colorado or nearby Sebastopol and allow cannabis dispensaries and commercial cultivation of marijuana, at least, not without clear guidelines, rules and regulations.
“I’d like us to have all our ducks lined up before we go any further,” he says. Moreover, he wants to avoid the kinds of environment damage that large-scale marijuana cultivation has brought to Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity and Lake counties.
Born in Modesto in 1953 – he’ll celebrate his 64th birthday in April — Plass arrived in Healdsburg at the age of three. By the time he was 10, he was picking prunes for an Italian farmer on South Fitch Mountain. Paid 35 cents a box, he earned $68 one summer and bought a classy Schwinn Stingray.
Later he raised sheep and worked at a gas station in town where he checked a lot of tires and radiators. In 1974, he joined the Healdsburg police force, was promoted to sergeant in 1983, served as the president of the Healdsburg Police Officer’s Association and retired from the force in 2004. Soon afterward, he became a realtor — he had purchased his own house in 1981 — and then entered politics. He’s still in the political arena and clearly enjoys his role on the city council and as a citizen concerned about Healdsburg’s identity in a time of growing pains.
“Lumber and prunes are long gone,” he says. “Tourism is our industry now.” He pauses a moment and adds, “Marijuana dispensaries would not be a good fit for the tourist industry. I think they would attract undesirable people.”
Plass is quick to point out that Healdsburg allows citizens to cultivate six plants indoors and three plants outdoors, provided that they’re not visible from the street and that they’re set back from property lines.
He knows that marijuana is a controversial issue and that citizens line up on all sides. But he insists that other issues are more compelling in Healdsburg. “The number one concern here is housing that’s affordable,” he says. “The condition of our streets and roads is number two. Marijuana might be six or seven on a list of the top 10 issues in town.”
Perhaps what Plass would like most of all when it comes to cannabis is for the federal government to recognize the laws for medical and recreational use that are in effect from Massachusetts to California. “I want Washington to get off the fence,” he said. “The current situation puts the states in jeopardy.”
Might he change his mind and open the doors wider to marijuana cultivation in Healdsburg? Perhaps. “I can understand why Mendocino County protects its marijuana,” he said. “Their economy is based on dope. Look around Sonoma, and what do you see? Grapes, grapes, grapes everywhere.”
In between the grape vines, curious observers will find cannabis plants growing as big and as tall as any in Mendocino with cannabis cash pouring into supermarkets, automobile dealerships and maybe even into bank accounts.
Jonah Raskin, a professor emeritus at Sonoma State University, is the author of Marijuanaland, Dispatches from an American War, published in French as well as English, and shares story credit for the feature length pot film Homegrown.
