Recreational weed is now legal in Ohio, and that state just so happens to be less than two miles from his office inside the Marshall County Courthouse in West Virginia … where, by the way, weed use remains against the law.
So, how does Sheriff Bill Helms feel about the new freedom in the Buckeye State?
“I consider myself a constitutional sheriff. I’m a big Second Amendment fan. I’m all for individual rights and private property. So, my personal feelings about an issue do not matter when it comes to enforcing the laws of the state of West Virginia,” Sheriff Helms said. “Now, if the people were to vote for marijuana to be legal in our state, then that’s the will of the people and I believe the people are in charge. I believe people are smart enough to make their own decisions.
“If that’s what the majority of people want, I’m all for it,” he said. “I work for the people.”
And it was the people in Ohio who approved the legalization of recreational marijuana by a 57 percent to 43 percent vote on November 7th to make the Buckeye State the 24th in the country.
So, what now? What if Ohioans bring their legal pot across the Moundsville Bridge?
“Ya know, I’ve been asked a couple times, ‘Do I think people will bring their weed over the bridge and into Marshall County now that it’s legal in Ohio?’ And my answer has been yes. Of course, they will. People have been back and forth across that border and I’m real sure drugs have crossed that bridge a time or two,” Helms said. “Now, do I anticipate any big problems because people will bring their marijuana into Marshall County? No, absolutely I do not.
“People are smart enough to know when they transport an illegal substance anywhere, they are breaking the law for even having it,” the sheriff said. “I do believe the Legislature will make it legal at some point in the future, and if not them, then the federal government. I’ve always told people that I’ve fought plenty of whiskey drunks in my career, but never someone high on marijuana.”
Life or Death
In 2021, 1,253 people died in West Virginia because of an opioid overdose. More than a few of them took place in Marshall County, too.
Methamphetamine abuse is on the rise, too, and Helms and his deputies handle tragedies on a weekly basis. No one, the sheriff realizes, wants to call this ongoing battle a “war on drugs,” but that’s exactly what it’s been for more than a decade.
And the good guys lose far too often.
“This drug epidemic is just horrible, and these drug dealers playing around with fentanyl is no joke. It’s not funny at all,” Helms said. “There are 312 square miles of this county and also 660 paved and unpaved roads, and my job is to protect every resident along those roads in Marshall County.
“And I believe some people forget that our county is bordered by both Pennsylvania and Ohio, but that means there are a lot of people coming in and going out of the county,” he insisted. “It’s tragedy after tragedy.”
Helms confirmed the agents now on duty with the Marshall County Drug Task Force hunt the people transporting illegal, Schedule I narcotics – and yes, that includes marijuana – but priorities are priorities.
“Listen, if someone with a van full of marijuana is swerving down Route 2, we’re going to pull him over and arrest him,” he explained. “But we’re focused mostly on the big stuff, the deadly stuff, because those are the drugs that are hurting our people the most. Those are the drugs that are most addicting and addiction leads to most of the crimes we’re investigating on a daily basis.
“That’s why I am going to direct my deputies to concentrate on saving people’s lives. We prioritize life,” Helms. “That’s why I can’t imagine we’ll concentrate on Ohio residents bringing their medicinal or recreational marijuana into Marshall County.”
