Sadness fills us following the death of Craig Von Dohlen, a Sonoma resident.
We weren’t there, so we don’t know exactly what transpired, and we didn’t know the family, so we don’t know those dynamics, but the loss of a man’s life is cause for sadness and reflection. People die violent deaths every day all over the world; it happens infrequently in Sonoma Valley.
Our hearts go out to the parents, and to their older son. We can only imagine what it’s like to lose a child – actually, we really can’t – or to lose a sibling. Von Dohlen was a grown man, at 37 years old, but we doubt if that makes his loss any easier to accept.
Our hearts also go out to those police officers who felt that taking Von Dohlen’s life was a necessary action. They’ve been trained for such work, and we assume, pending any findings from the automatic review process, that the officers responded in accordance with their conduct policy.
But we do expect that they are replaying the events in their own minds, wondering what might have let that scenario unfold in some other way. It seems from the reports that the situation was already tense when the police arrived, if not out of control. From one perspective, it’s fortunate that the resolution involved only one death, as apparently other deaths had been threatened. From another perspective, it’s unfortunate it involved any.
Early in the father’s call to 911, he reportedly commented that his son was “high on drugs,” and our hearts go out to all the people in our midst who are affected by a drug problem, theirs or that of someone in their lives. That’s a true evil, with which our society has not fully come to terms, and it can make life seem hopeless. In this Christmas season of joy and hope, we wish that all people in need can find help. Some of the local churches hold special “Blue Christmas” services, to comfort those for whom the joy and hope are lost.
Just a week ago was the 75th anniversary of the 1933 repeal of Prohibition in the U.S. It’s always referenced with a capital letter, so remarkable was that episode in our nation’s history. Ratified in 1919 by 36 states as the 18th amendment to our Constitution, the populace at that time evidently felt the evils of alcohol required strong government action.
It turned out, though, that the unintended consequences were far worse than the perceived problem: black market, crime, police corruption and criminalization of people indulging in an otherwise harmless activity. The parallels to the present prohibition of recreational drugs are eerie – and disturbing – as we see around us the same unintended consequences: a black market in drugs, often involving youth, crimes committed to support drug habits, reported corruption of law enforcement, and prisons overflowing with drug offenders. Our parents and grandparents repealing Prohibition thought it would be better instead for government to control the sale of alcohol, regulate its potency, and levy a tax on consumption. That would seem a reasonable framework for drugs, as well.
How much relevance does this have to the Von Dohlen case? We can only speculate that drugs were an element in creating the desperation he expressed. It is a problem for many, and we have hope for a saner drug policy under the new administration in Washington. In our view, that’d be a welcome change.
