First ‘high’ weekend on High Desert tallied

It was a festive weekend on the High Desert. People celebrated Independence Day in many ways, from the Pet Parade and the Freedom Ride, to — of course — fireworks.

It also was the first weekend where recreational marijuana was legalized in the state.

The weekend was slammed, for those in first-responder uniform.

“It gets busy,” said Bend police Lt. Clint Burleigh.

“It was a standard Fourth of July — lots of fireworks calls,” said Redmond police Lt. Keith Knight.

Now that the party is over, law enforcement agencies are taking tally.

“We found that we had six DUIIs from Friday to Sunday,” Burleigh said.

As of Monday, Burleigh was not able to provide NewsChannel 21 with the number of how many, if any, cannabis citations had been filed in Bend. He said he would have those numbers within the week.

In Redmond, officers filed one DUII and three citations for cannabis.

“Two of those were for possession of marijuana by those under 21 years of age,” Knight said.

The third was for possessing more than twice the allowed limit.

“There will be a learning curve with the new marijuana laws on both sides — both the legal side and the community side,” Knight said.

Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office reported two DUII and no cannabis citations. Prineville Police Department had no DUII or citations for cannabis to report.

Did the new cannabis laws impact the workload for officers this weekend?

“No it did not,” Knight said.

At this point no citations were filed in Central Oregon for smoking cannabis in public.

“I didn’t notice anything unusual or different in regards to marijuana,” Burleigh said. “I spoke to one lieutenant who said that during the Freedom Ride someone started to use but then saw the officer and decided not to use at that time.”