Another city's drug problem SOLVED!

[Heidi]

What a prudent and courageous use of taxpayer dollars. :eyes:



Deputies confiscate one plant
http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/articles/2005/10/10/news/top_stories/one.txt

[enigmatic]

1. I swear

That looks like the Christmas Tree in "A Charlie Brown Christmas"!

[Heidi]

6. Yes, sad, isn't it?

And here's the thing: they confiscate this stuff, send the "perp" to prison on a felony charge, and do _nothing_ about the true gateway "drugs": nicotine and alcohol. Pitiful.

[enigmatic]

13. I hear you

You're absolute right; both of them probably smoke 2 packs a day and stay drunk on their days off.

And the thing is, by demonizing herb to kids they set in motion the whole "gateway drug" thing inside-out; when kids try herb and realize that it's not the mondo horrible drug the parents and cops tell them, they think, "if they lied to me about this drug, what other drugs have they lied about?" and try those hard, much more dangerous drugs...

[Heidi]

14. You've perfectly described the danger of DARE.

:thumbsup:

Further, I _loathe_ the whole "if we save just one kid from drugs, it'll have been worth every penny" spiel. Gimme a freakin' break. What if that same standard were applied to teaching math or science? "If we successfully teach math to only one kid, it will have been worth the billions of dollars we pour into education." :eyes: Rant over.

[enigmatic]

16. I'm w/ you on that, too

I'd rather they save them from blind comformity/obedience...

[Heidi]

21. It's as though we as a culture just aren't _thinking_. (nt)

[redqueen]

24. Thinking is verboten.

Just memorize what we tell you and be a good little cog.

[Heidi]

28. The campaign of fear has been very successful,

even among us liberals, I'm afraid.

(I love your posts, redqueen, and am sorry this is the first time I've told you that. :thumbsup: )

[redqueen]

45. Thanks!

:D

[Merrick]

19. the philosophy that justifies the most egregious of tactics

samelessly distorting facts to condition kids against drugs through fear. For instance, they'll be inundated with pressure to try drugs, and if they give in, they'll think they're superman and jump off a building, become hopeless addicts instantaneously - losing jobs, loved ones and ultimately their lives in the process, experience crippling depression, tear away their flesh in attempts to eradicate invisible bugs, etc.

My friend's daughter came home from DARE thinking her parents were potentially dangerous alcoholics because she'd seen them drinking wine and beer from time to time.

Personally I remember being scared shitless from such methods as an impressionable 9 year old who went through that dispicable program, which is counter productive anyway as it merely alienates kids once they get old enough to realize its all BS and are consequently compelled to be more likely to try drugs - sorta like me who enjoys dabbling here and there, and have never lost a job, loved one, or anything else as a result and in fact consider my life enhanced by it (like probably 95% of the drug using population out there)

rant over

[Heidi]

20. Excellent rant, Merrick.

Thank you! :thumbsup:

[MountainLaurel]

47. I experienced the same thing with religion

I attended a fundamentalist church that thought nothing of scaring 7-year-olds with stories of the Rapture and being left alone (a young child's worst nightmare). Later on as an adult, when I started reading about the religions that predated the Judeo-Christian period, the pick-and-choose method used to write the Bible, the oppression of non-Christians in the Early Church, I realized that I couldn't trust anything I'd been taught and rejected it wholesale, other than the concept that Jesus was a good guy who had a lot of good ideas: sort of a Jimmy Carter in sandals.

[ucmike]

50. my bro thought i was alcoholic too

i was drinking a beer, watching a football game on a sunday afternoon. i was 21 at the time. my elementary school brother was discovered crying hysterically in his room. turned out he was terrified that i was an alcoholic and that my life was over. we had to sit him down and explain alcoholism to him. we had to convince him that drinking alcohol didn't make one an alcoholic.

the dare program had introduced them to the evils of alcohol. they only presented the extreme end of the spectrum to them.

[DS1]

29. That's EXACTLY what went through my mind at that moment

of realization.

[SixStrings]

83. WoW! That sums up my feelings perfectly...Thank you. n/t

[Robeson]

2. And they look so proud....

...amazing. Barney Fifes' are alive and well.

[Heidi]

7. Marijuana is Oklahoma's number 1 cash crop . . .

or it was when I was growing up there. I say, make it legal, tax it and stop being disingenuous.

[Whoa_Nelly]

15. Mmmmm...and how tasty

that OK homegrown was!

[jeff30997]

3. I bet they smoked part of it.

[Heidi]

8. And I'll bet you they _didn't_.

Drug enforcement in that county is like a fanatical approach to religion. It's an extreme sport.

[jeff30997]

10. But they look so dopey !

[Heidi]

12. It's part of the uniform.

:eyes: They look that way to hyp-mo-tize us.

[AVulgarianHue]

4. The good citizen..

with the tip is to be commended. :eyes:

[Heidi]

9. Yes, I know my own self-esteem would rise several degrees

if I narced out a neighbor for growing one plant for his/her personal consumption. "Narc out your neighbor" is one of the fundamentals of a fascist regime, isn't it?

[kittykatkoffeekup]

5. I'm on the case!

[Heidi]

11. Right on!

Get Smart! Shoe phone! :thumbsup:

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. You can almost hear what Bubba on the right is thinking

Straight from the mouth of Jack Nicholson in "Easy Rider:"

"Yew-yew-yew mean marrywanna? Goddamn, is that what that is? Lemme see that!"

:hippie:

[Heidi]

18. Probably something close.

I'm not saying cops are necessarily bad or stupid, but any political subdivision that buys into the whitewash that confiscating one marijuana plant and charging one person with a felony is a good use of resources is a poor steward of taxpayers' money. :grr:

[Heidi]

22. Kick for the day crew. (nt)

[StopTheMorans]

23. go get 'em boys, smoke out those dirty hippies!

:thumbsup:

[BigMcLargehuge]

25. you don't usually see foliage doing the perp walk

[Heidi]

26. Oddly enough,

the county mentioned in the article just passed a tax increase to fund the construction of a new jail. Apparently, the current facility isn't large enough to accomodate all of the people growing weed for their own personal use. :eyes:

By the way, re: "foliage doing the perp walk" reminded me that your comments sometimes are so similiar to Mr. Heidi's that I'm :scared:

[BigMcLargehuge]

27. you've figured out my secret!

I am mr. heidi....

[Heidi]

31. I'll have to see your Samurai sword

before I'll believe you.

[BigMcLargehuge]

32. and here I was thinking it was just regular old macaroni and cheese night-

[Heidi]

34. Mr. Heidi and sword

on a regular old macaroni and cheese night.

[BigMcLargehuge]

36. nice haemon on that

is it from Cold Steel?

[Heidi]

37. I've no idea.

I only paid for it. :rofl:

He's getting another one for Christmas, but shhhhhhhhhhhh. ;)

[BigMcLargehuge]

38. ROFL!!!!

have you seen the vids of me doing Iaido forms?

[Heidi]

39. Is it this link?

http://www.comcast.net/~jrderego

(I tried to show Mr. Heidi, but the link goes nowhere. :cry: )

You can PM me a link if you like. Mr. Heidi would love it! :thumbsup:

[BigMcLargehuge]

41. no, it's this one

Form 1
http://www.youtube.com/?v=Qp5noM4X75U

Form 5
http://www.youtube.com/?v=ar_vFKPO7hw

Another form 5 (different angle)
http://www.youtube.com/?v=kjTckNiZvZg

another form 5 (different angle AND zoomed)
http://www.youtube.com/?v=mq8wIGtu83Q

[Heidi]

42. Before I show him these links, lemme ask you something:

will they lead to even more expensive Christmas and birthday gifts? :scared:

(Thank you, BigMcLargehuge!)

[BigMcLargehuge]

44. I can't say for certain

but I might suggest it could lead to things like -

Iaido classes
A Hakama and Topcoat (total $80)
A burning desire for Kendo armor and a shinai (bamboo sword) (total $200-$600 depending on what and where you buy)
A need to have every Zatoichi film made (about a $120 for the set of 27 or so films).

[Heidi]

75. Oh, Lord.

Mr. Heidi loved the videos, is nuts for the robe or whatever-it-is-you're wearing in them, and reminded me that I'd agreed last winter to him taking private lessons to learn the forms with a wooden or bambhu sword. :eyes:

As a matter of money management, I'll be checking the "history" tomorrow morning to see whether he's been googling "Zatoichi." :rofl:

[BigMcLargehuge]

76. links to gear

this hakama is expensive... he can get it cheaper elsewhere, usually for $45 or $50.

http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_uniform.htm

Here is some info on Zatoichi -

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00073K7JY/002-3753842-9552046?v=glance&n=130&v=glance

[In_The_Wind]

30. We Can All Feel Safer Now!

:woohoo:

[meganmonkey]

33. Yeah, from the likes of you miss...miss...

wait, I forgot what I was gonna say :smoke:

Anybody have any Pringles?

[Heidi]

35. Munchies?

:rofl:

[anarch]

40. Super-obvious fact post of the day:

The "War on Drugs" is really, really stupid.

How the hell can you outlaw a PLANT, that grows out of the GROUND???

I understand, in some states, the law allows for the death penalty if a certain amount of certain plants are found growing on one's property.

I'm going to start lobbying for tomatoes to be outlawed...because, ummmm, they are bad for children and give me an upset stomach. And I don't like the way they look! Also, dandelions. Anybody with dandelions in their yard should be LOCKED UP!!

:crazy:

[Heidi]

43. The prohibition of marijuana has racist roots.

Really. It does.

[anarch]

48. I believe you

In fact, I think one of the main reasons for the continuing existence of a great many of our prohibition laws is to have an excuse to lock up and/or harass non-white people. That's certainly the way they're enforced, anyway.

[jeff30997]

46. Whoa man ! Cool ! Look at that ! Wow !

[Heidi]

49. Yes, don't you feel safer now

that one guy who was growing one plant (in a freakin' pot, for pete's sake) now faces felony charges, and that we'll all be safer somehow when he's serving a prison term at taxpayer expense? :grr:

[jeff30997]

67. So glad I live in that horrible country known as...

Soviet Canuckistan.(Canada, for peoples who don't understand the mysterious language of the Freepers known as:Idiotic Nonsense).

[Heidi]

69. I love Canadians!

When I was managing newsrooms, one of our entertainment writers was a Canadian who was perpetually late to work. His excuse: "Hey, I'm still on metric time!" :rofl:

Also, one of my very favorite DUers is an American living in Canada. Check out his radio venture, if you haven't already: http://www.radioenigma.com/

[ghostsofgiants]

84. And another is a Canadian with nice dreads, right?

:P

[Heidi]

87. Yep.

Absolutely. :loveya: P1 and hair. :*

[Wapsie B]

51. Just think of all the promotion points these two guys got.

I'm a firm believer in law and order. But this "Drug War" business isn't going to stop because there's too much $$$ at stake with the DEA and local agencies with appropriations alone. This doesn't even touch the issue of what happens to all that $$$ and property seized during a drug raid. It's a money grab disguised as a war. Kinda like Iraq.

[miss_kitty]

52. And using Cop Accounting and Cop Math and Cop Vocabulary

(like myself) That one plant has a street value of a BRAZILLION dollars!

[Heidi]

55. Counties actually collect a portion of "proceeds" when they seize

property and cash (without due process) in drug "raids." I wonder whether they seized the contents of this particular perp's wallet? His car? His home? The drug laws in our country are insane. (Note: I'm not a pot smoker, but I'm a rational human bean who's _very_ big on constitutional rights.)

[miss_kitty]

73. As a maybe pot smoker :)

I find the bullshit surrounding pot to be wasteful, unnecessary and really really harmful to people who need it for medicinal purposes (like maybe *I* do).

That looks like personal use to me, not that *I* would necessarily have any firsthand knowledge of that.

[Heidi]

74. I love ya, miss_kitty.

:hug: I don't give a crap what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes, and I certainly don't believe such acts should be illegal. :loveya:

Further, I don't care whether it's for medicinal or recreational use. One person's "recreational" is the next person's "medicinal," and either way, it beats the hell out of Valium (which counts for a lot in a country where the majority of individuals don't have medical insurance).

:thumbsup: gf.

[miss_kitty]

77. Back atcha Heidi!

:loveya:

I don't care what it's used for either. But you know, because of its classification, I can't even get a prescription for it, or the pharmaceutical substitute, even though it would be much safer for me to use than some of the other drugs prescribed to me (which are contraindicated for me personally, because they can cause intestinal blockage due to my medical history).

[Initech]

53. Wow, what a great photo op!

:sarcasm:

[Heidi]

56. I'd be downright embarrassed if I were those deputies. (nt)

[Initech]

58. This reminds me of Super Troopers

After they're locked in the back of the truck and discover that it was full of weed. Then they pose for it with the mayor and they're holding shotguns.

[Heidi]

60. I've gotta feel a little bit sad for the deputies, too,

because the one on the right, at least, is young enough to have been a DARE student, indoctinated with the hypocrisy of the state: these drugs (pot, etc.) are bad, but these drugs (insert alcohol of choice, nicotine, and the products of Big Pharma here) are OK." :grr:

The drug policy that fear built. Annit grand?

[Initech]

65. The drug program in So Cal is called "SANE".

Rather ironic, isnt it?

Especially when it's a rather insane program to begin with.

[Heidi]

71. I have a novel idea for a new drug policy:

Prosecute people for actual crimes. For example, if you neglect or abuse your kids (whatever the reason), you get prosecuted, and circumstances are a mitigating factor. But don't invent crimes (like smoking pot) to justify a prosecution. :shrug:

[Initech]

86. A lot of fundies would be thrown in jail then!

Especially the ones that abuse kids with Dobson's "rod".

[uncle ray]

54. too bad the grower didn't assert his rights.

based on an anonymous tip they simply knocked on his door, asked to search, and he consented. bad, bad, bad! let the bastards knock all damn day long if they want, it hey have anything, they'll get a warrant and knock the door in. if you answer, they ask for a search, you ask for a warrant. because of his consent to search, he pissed away pretty much any chance he had of beating the rap.

[Heidi]

57. I agree, but most people aren't as well educated about their rights

(which are disappearing day by day) as you and I. He's probably just another, regular, bent-over-a-barrel American. I feel sorry for the guy.

[WeRQ4U]

59. This and the bracelet around Martha Stewart's ankle allow me to sleep....

My word. It's like a hunting photo or something.

[Heidi]

61. It's the "us against them" strategy, times 3 brazilian. (nt)

[WeRQ4U]

62. LOL. That "brazillion" thing still slays me. I love it. n/t

[Heidi]

63. Hello, North Dakota.

You live in one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. :hi:

[WeRQ4U]

64. Hello. Where in ND did you visit? Just curious.

I've lived on both the east and west sides.

[Heidi]

66. Just crossed over the border, really.

I used to live in Nebraska, so made it a point to visit SD, ND, WY . . . mainly because I owned a sports car and _loved_ to drive and talk to people. :thumbsup: (The nefarious influence of having read "On The Road" at a young age. :blush: )

[WeRQ4U]

68. Cool.

I read "on the road" during law school. Needless to say that any inclinings I may have had to set out on a cross country journey were stiffled by my mounds of homework and studying that needed to be done. LOL.

Glad you liked it here. It has a peaceful nothingness all it's own. I grew up here.

[Heidi]

70. I will write down "WeRQ4U" in my

Big Book of Warriors for Justice I Have Known. :thumbsup:

[WeRQ4U]

72. I'm honored.

Thanks.

[madinmaryland]

78. In Connecticut their program was called "Weed and Seed"

:rofl:

The cops actually had this large winabago type van with that nicely painted on the van. I always wondered what was in that van.

[SouthernDem2004]

80. That program is not about marijuana. It is a housing program.

They "weed" out the criminal type and "seed" neighborhoods with good residents. Usually done in housing projects and subsidized housing areas.

[madinmaryland]

81. I do know that. I used to see them everyday outside the train

station. It just sounded funny when in the context of this thread.

[gollygee]

79. "We Don't Smoke Marijuana in Muskogee"

I will have that song going through my head all day now!!!

[SouthernDem2004]

82. Will they really charge him with a felony for one tiny plant?

[TallahasseeGrannie]

85. Wait! is that their office Christmas tree?

Where can I get one? It would look precious with lights and twirling angels and bubbles and sparkle.