South Carolina Police Chief Threatens To Target Anyone Who Advocates Legalizing Marijuana

[Coyotl]

South Carolina Police Chief Threatens To Target Anyone Who Advocates Legalizing Marijuana

By Ian Millhiser on November 2, 2013 - http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/11/02/2880221/south-carolina-police-chief-threatens-action-advocates-legalizing-marijuana/

Shortly after the Columbia, South Carolina Police Department posted on its Facebook page that it arrested a man and seized approximately forty thousand dollars worth of marijuana from his home, several individuals wrote critical comments of this arrest and of marijuana prohibition in general. “How many unsolved murders and rapes do you have in your jurisdiction? Maybe you should focus your attention on those instead?” wrote one commentator. Another simply wrote that “Pot should be legal.”

Ruben Santiago, the Interim Police Chief in Columbia, South Carolina, did not take kindly to these comments. Yet, rather than simply defend his department’s actions or offer counterarguments expressing why he believed that this marijuana arrest was a good use of police resources, he decided instead to threaten one of the commenters. In a comment that was first reported by the libertarian-leaning blog Popehat, Chief Santiago logged into his department’s Facebook account and told an apparent advocate of marijuana legalization that the man’s political views provided “reasonable suspicion to believe” that he may be a criminal, and that police “will work on finding” him.

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[rgbecker]

1. Hey, Ruben, just call the NSA.

They have all the evidence you'll need and you'll find the smoker in a minute.

[socialist_n_TN]

2. This is pretty hilarious ..........

My answer to the Police Chief is that I've advocated marijuana legalization for decades now and for the last two decades of that advocacy, I've smoked MAYBE twice a year at random times. Notice I said smoked, not dealt or trafficked in any other way. Those two positions aren't necessarily causal.

I'd say this was a form of intimidation against free political speech. I'd also watch for planted narcotics and PD stings if I were this particular citizen.

[Demo_Chris]

3. Kick.

[Taitertots]

4. The sad irony is that his response to complaints that he doesn't focus of egregious violations...

is wasting more police resources harassing someone who is doing nothing wrong.

[Jesus Malverde]

5. One purpose of President Reagan's war on drugs was to change the conversation.

Back in the day, we used to talk about "hard drugs" and "soft drugs". You never hear those terms anymore. The idea that cannabis is the same as heroin, coke and meth was embraced by Americans across all sectors as they embraced drug testing in schools and workplaces and life destroying mandatory minimums they would have never tolerated as young people.

Faced with this overwhelming social, cultural and legal ostracism cannabis users who previously spoke freely of their use of cannabis went underground or "in the closet". This was the only way they could practice their spirituality without the fear of jail or losing their jobs.

The consequence of this cultural change was that those who were now the open advocates of cannabis, were those with no fear of jail or losing their jobs. These spokesmen and advocates living on the margins were easy targets for their non traditional lifestyles and became the poster boy for the "cannabis user". The result was to associate daily cannabis consumption with Jimmy the hippy and not someone like Carl Sagan.

In some areas of the country the conversation has changed. People realized cannabis is nothing like heroin, cocaine or meth and over time the medical benefits of the plant become obvious to all. Not long after that people recognize that enforcement of unjust cannabis laws were designed as a tool to target minority and non traditional groups. Soon the movement becomes framed as a civil rights issue, righting injustice, promoting health, freedom and the promise of economic growth.

Cannabis advocacy has changed from the marginal to the mainstream, that scares the shit out of them.

The mindshift is tectonic, the tsunami of cannabis freedom will one day wash over Ruben Santiago. He'll need to go with the flow of freedom or drown in his sewer of repression.

[Coyotl]

8. I think you mean strategy. Purpose remained the same, attack political enemies, suppress voting.

The purpose of the culture war remains consistent since Nixon's paranoid delusions.

[Mopar151]

6. "All Will Pay, Who Disagree With ME!"

from "Don't step on the grass, Sam", as performed by Govennment Mule

[concreteblue]

7. LOVE me some Warren Haynes!!!

For my money, he is one of the purest musicians on the planet. Saw him last year on the "Man in Motion" tour.........he is a pure channel...just open the gate and let it flow.....
Off topic, my fave: