[TheeBadOne]

Associated Press

AUSTIN, Minn. -- Mower County Sheriff Terese Amazi's cell phone rang around noon on Friday. When the sheriff answered, the caller said she wanted a bag of marijuana.

Amazi told the caller she was the sheriff, and the person on the other end hung up.

A few minutes later, Amazi's phone rang again, and this time she let deputy Steve Sandvik answer. The callers asked for a bag of marijuana, and the deputy -- who called himself ``Dupe'' on the phone -- arranged for a meeting an hour later.

The sheriff's department tracked the number to an Austin home. Two teen-age girls were arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4083774.html
---------------------------

There's a reason they call it "dope"... :D

[WonderNine]

Thank god they're "off the streets". :D

:barf:

[Standing Wolf]

Two teen-age girls were arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.

Another Great Victory in the war on drugs!

[tyme]

Admittedly not too bright. The proper thing to do would be to realize you called the number you were trying to dial and do a double-cross. Tip off the DEA about the major pot dealer you're meeting at 1pm. And you think that maybe the pot is being smuggled in from canada, so tell the DEA to notify customs too. :) :evil:

[Cal4D4]

So who's the joker who "hooked them up" with the phone #?

[LiquidTension]

Wow. Two teenagers were arrested that didn't even have any drugs. What a victory. What a WONDERFUL use of time. Hooray for the war on drugs :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

On the other hand, I guess the police can't ignore it when something like this just drops in their lap.

[FedDC]

TheeBadOne:

that is too funny. And they say that it doesn't make you dumb...or maybe they were using it because they were dumb in the first place;) Either way, it just goes to prove that while life is tough, it is a lot tougher when you are a dumba$$ pothead.

Good Post:)

[TheeBadOne]

Thank god they're "off the streets".

Another Great Victory in the war on drugs!

Wow. Two teenagers were arrested that didn't even have any drugs. What a victory. What a WONDERFUL use of time. Hooray for the war on drugs

>sigh< I'm disappointed by these narrow points of view. This is a great example of what Law Enforcement can do. What a perfect time to turn someone around. Adults who are in trouble with the law often started as kids who were in trouble. If the kids get caught early enough on often that is the last time they do something to get in trouble with the law. The stats back that up. Crime, all crime, is a juvinile problem. It starts out with a patern of conduct at a young age and progresses. Joe the 28 year old master plumber doesn't just decide one day, "Gee, I think I'll start dealing smack, there's good money in it". It starts from a patern of minor conduct at a young age and progresses. Catch it early enough, a life saved.Here is perfect opportunity. The actuall citation is a petty misd, so the monitary penalty is minimal, no jail, and with them being kids the impact should register quite a bit higher than with Tattoo Jerry the 5 x convicted con. Would you really rather wait and see if they move on to harder and harder drugs and die of an overdose or kill someone over $5 for their next fix of smack? Big crimes start from little ones. Hopefully these kids will get some counciling and the parent(s) will wake up.

All the best

[FedDC]

A-Men to that. I wish that more people understood that crime is almost always a series of baby steps. Very few people start out as hardened cirminals. They start out shoplifting and breaking a lot of MSD laws that go unpunished. Bc it goes virtually unpunished, they continue and eventually it become a lifestyle. I think that these guys may have done some good and hopefully straightened out these kids. The question now is will their parents follow up and do their job.

[Jim March]

Oh gimme a break.

Guys, I owned contraband for eight years. Even smuggled them in-state across the border.

Ferrets. That's right, I was an [i]interstate weasel smuggler![/] They're flat-out banned in California, even though the local pet shops are full of ferret food, the little tube-hammocks that they dig, the triangular litter pans with the low fronts for their little low-slung butts, and pretty much every other sort of ferret "paraphenalia" imaginable.

Funny, but I never graduated to robbing banks :scrutiny:.

:rolleyes:

[Sergeant Bob]

It's a good thing that sheriff caught those girls. She probably saved them from getting the REEFER MADNESS!!!

[hammer4nc]

What's the probability that the girls were enlisted to "reveal their sources", in exchange for leniency? Maybe even make a taped phone call to incriminate their dealer? LEO's chime in here. Is there ever a pot bust when that approach is not pressed on the arrestee?

In addition to learning their lesson that drugs can get you in trouble (agree with the early intervention points made by feddc, tbo), will they also learn, maybe in their first brush with the law, the lowest common denominator for which lying and duplicity is encouraged by officers? After all, the ends justify the means, right?

I've always wondered if law enforcement ever appreciated the impact on their overall integrity, that results from such enthusiastic enlistment of snitches and undercover operations for minor drug offenses? Think about it. Maybe one of the least recognized results of the "war on drugs". And LEO's wonder why some question their integrity.

[El Tejon]

Another day in the War on Some Drugs!:rolleyes: Those young ladies should thank the nice policeman for arresting and telling them how eeevil marajahua is. Now go home, girls, and take your Paxies and Xanies.:D

Nothing like taking the evidence TO the police. I've always thought that they should have a Criminal Stupidity statute, or maybe a sentencing enhancement.

My one case that made it to "America's Dumbest Criminals" was a doper who drove his car to a state police post with a dug out over the VIN # on the dashboard. "Gee, trooper, can you look at my car?" Doh!:uhoh:

[OF]

We all know that everyone who smoked pot as a teenager turned into a crack-dealing criminal, so I guess it's all worth it. What ever happened to letting free people make their own choices and mistakes in life? Whatever's best 'for the collective' I suppose.

Those kids got taught a lesson all right. They learned that you better do what the man says or else. All the run-ins we had with the cops as teenagers for doing nothing but minding our own business, just minding it in a way that the gov't said was 'baaaad' sure taught us respect for the law and what it means to be a free man in a free society. Not.

:barf:

- Gabe

[TarpleyG]

You know, all the anti-"war on drugs" stuff is getting real old. These girls were breaking the law, and regardless of your opinions on the legalility/morality of drugs, something must be done. If you don't like the laws, work on getting them changed and as my dear ol' mom used to say, "Quit chur bitchin'!"

Now, all I would have done to them is give them a good tongue lashing and make a vist to the parents, but that's me.

GT

[OF]

Now, all I would have done to them is give them a good tongue lashing and make a vist to the parents, but that's me.But, Tarpley, they were breaking the law. I thought something must be done. So, you would make a personal decision not to enforce the law in this case based on your personal opinion of that law, yet there's something wrong with the rest of us voicing that very same opinion here on the boards...

- Gabe

[tyme]

It's tough to do anything about it when there are virtually no candidates for federal office who run on a platform to repeal drug laws. The problem is very clear. The people don't care enough about the right to own/use drugs in most locales to make it a campaign issue, so no (corrupt,) politically savvy, smart candidate will approach the issue.

I suppose you'd say the same about someone arrested for having an illegal post-ban assault weapon, or a silencer without appropriate batfe forms? "Too bad, they broke the law, if they don't like it they should work to get it changed."

So as a person with a limited lifespan, if the feds banned pizza, would you never order a pizza again? What a great idea that is. Work the system, go to the courts, and see if they can find a right to pizza in the bill of rights. :rolleyes: If you haven't died of old age before the SCOTUS wakes up and makes the right decision, of course.

[OF]

You know, in this day and age, you have to fight! For your right! To paaaaaartaaay! :)

- Gabe

[Raistlin]

This sounds more like a good LawDog story!:D

[mjydrafter]

Yeah, hopefully these 2 girls will learn thier lesson...

and move on to deadlier inhailable intoxicants like butane or some spray paint. Because while decidedly more dangerous they (spray paint, butane, ect. ) are all legal. And don't require a "dealer".

Or better, they will wait untill they are of legal age and begin consumming alcohol, because it's legal. :rolleyes:

I realize that MJ is illegal.
I also know that MJ has yet to kill anyone directly (remember this is a plant that has been around since The Begining-if it was killin' people we'd know). Hell, asprin kills 180-1000 people annually. I won't even start harping on the "legal" alcohol industry-just bear in mind people die of alcohol poisoning-directly from over ingestion. I won't list the other health costs associated with it.

I'm not condoning drug use or encouraging it. I'm just saying people (most animals too) expiriment with intoxicants, maybe we should let them expiriment with realitivly safe ones.

[Augustwest]

You know, all the anti-"war on drugs" stuff is getting real old.

Actually, I find it kinda refreshing.

Bull-Puckey, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, "if your daughter smokes pot she's going to get molested on a couch by a drug-addled, horned-up teenage boy," ads aside, I'd sure as heck rather have my kid smoking a joint than drinking.

I've done both, now do neither, so my only horse in the race is seeing that people are as free as possible.

[Augustwest]

t'is a pretty funny story though :D

[OF]

A'yup :)

- Gabe

[Carlos Cabeza]

Not wanting to harp on the legal/ illegal issue, I have seen alcohol destroy far many more lives than the evil devilweed. WARNING: user may experience mild euphoria and put on a few extra pounds.

[TheeBadOne]

Those kids got taught a lesson all right. They learned that you better do what the man says or else. All the run-ins we had with the cops as teenagers for doing nothing but minding our own business, just minding it in a way that the gov't said was 'baaaad' sure taught us respect for the law and what it means to be a free man in a free society. Not.

Yeah, hopefully these 2 girls will learn thier lesson...

and move on to deadlier inhailable intoxicants like butane or some spray paint. Because while decidedly more dangerous they (spray paint, butane, ect. ) are all legal. And don't require a "dealer".....
I'm not condoning drug use or encouraging it. I'm just saying people (most animals too) expiriment with intoxicants, maybe we should let them expiriment with realitivly safe ones.

I've done both, now do neither, so my only horse in the race is seeing that people are as free as possible.

Soooooo.... Legalize drugs, it's for the children? :confused:

So as a person with a limited lifespan, if the feds banned pizza, would you never order a pizza again? What a great idea that is. Work the system, go to the courts, and see if they can find a right to pizza in the bill of rights. If you haven't died of old age before the SCOTUS wakes up and makes the right decision, of course.
Apples, oranges, and what other types of fruit? :confused:

[Dilettante]

(Jim)
Funny, but I never graduated to robbing banks

Now we know why there isn't any national War On Ferrets! :D

[Yeah right, like the law is logical. Later on I'll tell you my DMV story from this morning. :barf: ]

[Augustwest]

Soooooo.... Legalize drugs, it's for the children?

No. Legalize drugs and let parents do their jobs.

I'm not arguing for a nation of stoned kids here, but it's not the place of a reasonable government to regulate these things.

And I maintain that if kids are going to get intoxicated, pot's a far safer choice than alcohol.

[cordex]

Respect for law is extremely important.
It's just so hard to foster that respect with such silly laws.
And all the "but ... if it is legal to <smoke pot, drink booze, carry guns, own 'assault weapons', etc, ad infinitum>, everyone will be date-rapin', cop-killin', dope-sellin', bone thugs." excuses in the world don't do anything to make Prohibition more logical.

Why is use of an illegal substance worse than abuse of a legal one?

[Atticus]

Lulu...what we've got here is a failure to communicate.

Dem girls shoulda been busted for bad phone manners and poor communication skills.
"Write on the blackboard..er your laptop (no cutting and pasting).. five hundred times - Hello...this is Lulu, can I speak to my dealer (insert name here) please."

[mjydrafter]

Soooooo.... Legalize drugs, it's for the children?

Not exactly what I had in mind, but if it works...

I have young children, I would rather that they didn't experiment drugs, but if they are going to experiment, I would like them to be safe about it. MJ is one of the safest substances on the planet, as far as intoxicants go. Again I'm not trying to incourage/condone drug use.

I'm more for an official mandate to ignore drugs and drug users. Keep the laws in place for Darwin canidates (like the girls in the story) and those that take advantage of a good thing. Use some common sense in everything from enforcement to justice.

I mean seriously what do we spend annually on the WOD? What have we gotten for our 70 year investment? The supply is still there. The demand is still there. I don't think we've done much more than waste time, energy, and huge piles of money.

[hops]

This whole drug debate always reminds me of the scence near tha end in the movie North Dallas Forty, where Nick Nolte's character has his football contract cancelled / or to be cancelled because he violated the morals clause in his contract for smoking weed at a party with Mack Davis' character.

Nolte's character says' "You have me take harder drugs just so that I can play."

The law is a funny thing.

The only thing I care about drugs is, that if you commit other crimes while using drugs, or to support your drug habbit - off to the big house you go for doing those things.

We'll never win the war on drugs, just like we'll never win the war on poverty. Drug use has been part of human life since way back when the first woman rented herself to a man and when the first man or woman made a weapon for moral purposes and the used it for immoral purposes.

I choose not to do drugs. But then my body makes me all the happy drugs I need and it's free....

[Atticus]

US CA: The 'War On Drugs' And The Death Of Compassion

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n1386.a03.html
Newshawk: http://emporium.turnpike.net/~jnr/think.htm
Pubdate: December 1999
Source: Kehillat Isreal (CA)
Address: 16019 Sunset Boulevard, Pacific Palisades CA 90272
Fax: (310) 573-2098
Author: Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben
Note: At the service Tuesday for Jim Rosenfield Rabbi Ruben introduced the
newsletter in which this article is printed with the comment that he had
received daily email messages from Jim demanding an answer to what the
Jewish community was going to do about these injustices. He also smiled as
he said how happy he was that Jim knew that he had started this series.


THE "WAR ON DRUGS" AND THE DEATH OF COMPASSION

First In A Series

In 1980 the Federal government spent $4 billion on the drug war. This year we are spending over four times that much, and the saddest part is that most of that money goes not to help people stop using drugs or get help for their addictions, but simply to throw them in prison.

Drug arrests have now pushed the U.S. jail and prison population to over 1.8 million people, almost the highest in the world, of whom an estimated 1.2 million are alcohol or drug abusers. In addition, 2.3 million are on probation and parole. Few of these people are violent, high-level dealers. In fact, more than 90% of all drug arrests are of nonviolent offenders guilty only of possession or of dealing small quantities to support their own habits.

Our lack of an intelligent social policy and the fear that plagues elected leaders of being branded as "soft on drugs" has led to a crisis in America that should embarrass and shame us all with its cruelty and lack of both compassion and plain common sense.

Consider this - the annual cost to incarcerate one addict in prison is about $25,900. The annual cost to provide long-term residential treatment for one addict is about $6,800. The cost to decrease cocaine consumption 1% by eradicating the sources of supply is about $783 million. The cost to decrease cocaine consumption 1% by increasing drug treatment is about $34 million. Even someone as bad in math as I can instantly see how foolishly we are wasting our precious financial resources that could be eradicating illiteracy and providing parenting classes to reduce child abuse and family violence instead of this misguided war.

It is time to reassess the monumental waste of public funds that is destroying millions of families needlessly, incarcerating and taking fathers and mothers who pose no real threat to society away from their children every day.

Instead we need to look seriously at how other countries have dealt in a compassionate way with addictions of all kinds, including drugs, and stop punishing the very people who are most in need of our help.

[LiquidTension]

TheeBadOne -

">sigh< I'm disappointed by these narrow points of view. "

You just assume that everyone who smokes pot will become a hardened criminal, and that makes ME narrow minded? :scrutiny:

Oh, you're right! All of my close friends that have smoked pot are now murderers and rapists! How could I have missed it?! :rolleyes: Yeah, one of my buddies that smokes more in a day than most people do in a lifetime owns his own business and makes over $125,000 a year. Come to think of it, NONE of my friends that smoke pot are criminals (other than the pot smoking I mean). They're all quite productive, actually. My point is this - don't call me narrow minded when I'm open to the possibility that pot is not harmful - especially when you are not willing to consider it at all. That just makes you a hypocrite.

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. These girls should be punished because they were freakin' morons, not because of some pot that they didn't even have.


I've said it once, I'll say it again for the record: Pot is not a drug, it is a hobby.

[OF]

Respect for law is extremely important.
It's just so hard to foster that respect with such silly laws.Einstein would agree with you, so you're in good company there. I forget the exact quote, but it's the same thing you just said basically.

- Gabe

[Oracle]

I will agree that the story is very funny. I don't think that the girls are going to be able to give away their "hook up" if they are calling the sheriff's cell-phone trying to get drugs :).

As for the whole drug issue, I think everyone with half a brain realizes that the war on drugs is ridiculous, causes far, far more problems than it solves, and is primarily a tool for violating the rights of the citizens of this country under the color of law, just as alcohol prohibition was.

Of course, with the government's enormous respect for the laws restricting what it can do (the U.S. Constitution) it's of little wonder that so few people respect the laws the government passes trying to restrict it's citizens behaviors.

[cordex]

Well I'll be condemned, Gabe. So he did.

Just shows that even the smartest people can sink to my level from time to time.
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this."
Albert Einstein, My First Impression of the U.S.A., 1921

[Jim March]

I'm more for an official mandate to ignore drugs and drug users. Keep the laws in place for Darwin canidates (like the girls in the story) and those that take advantage of a good thing. Use some common sense in everything from enforcement to justice.

HELL NO!

You realize what you've just described? A world where the cops can nail who they personally dislike.

I *know* what police discretion is and how it gets abused.

:scrutiny:

[Erik]

Thanks for making the job easier, girls!

[Tamara]

If you don't like the laws, work on getting them changed and as my dear ol' mom used to say, "Quit chur bitchin'!"

To type that on a board that is largely dedicated to "bitchin'" about dumb gun laws is, well, pretty funny, actually. :p

[WonderNine]

I'm so glad there are officer doofuses out there making bars safe from me and my 19 year old girlfriend.

Thank God for the war on some drugs!

Maybe when I'm 25.3 I'll be able to take her out for her first legal drink.

[mjydrafter]

You realize what you've just described? A world where the cops can nail who they personally dislike.

That wasn't what I was shootin' for, but you're right. I was aiming for something a little more like Holland's laws. While technically illegal it is officially overlooked. Yes, it would take some common sense to work out. Perhaps more than I can imagine, after all judges aren't even allowed to hand out reasonable sentances with the mandatory minimum garbage. Maybe it's too much to ask for police to be evenhanded in thier enforcement when we don't trust our judges to come up with proper punishments for those who would break these victimless laws.

The WOD is a mess, I would think that the populace would be able to see that we are getting very little (increased civil liberty violations and actual monitary value) for our investment.

It's hard for me to understand the logic of any kind of prohibition, but they do say, those who don't study it, are doomed to repeat it...:barf:

[only1asterisk]

My opinion and $1.00 may still get you a cup of coffee, but I think the pot posts are out of place. Is that why you call it "The High Road"?

I don't like the way things are with respect to drug enforcement, but I don't see an alternative in legalization. Regardless of my feelings, there has to be a better forum to discuss the issue.

David

[cordex]

1*,
Drug prohibition and gun prohibition have enjoyed a long and incestuous relationship - even with the inception of federal gun control in 1934 in the NFA (you know the history behind that, right?). The War on Some Drugs has been used to hack at civil liberties with almost as much success as the War on Some Terror.

Given that, how can you say that WoSD is not appropriate for the legal/political section of The High Road?

[only1asterisk]

I didn't say that civil liberties affected by enforcement were not appropiate topics, but I fail to see how making grass legit would have would make a difference in individual freedom for most of us. Nothing would change, no ground would be gained and I would have deal with more smoked up idiots than I already do. It appears to be a net loss.

My real problem with the drug related posts is that, while it reflects the libertarian values of most of us on The High Road, it may put some more moderate people off. I though The High Road was supposed to be a friendly, inclusive enviroment, presenting freedom-loving gun owners in the very best light. I see some of the content of this and other threads running contrary to that goal.

Like I said, just an opinion.

David

[only1asterisk]

Cordex,

Wasn't the original federal law against pot very similar to NFA? I see the your point, but I don't think the "benefits" would be as widespread, instant or positive as proposed. The NFA didn't disappear when prohibition ended. The '86 ban or AWB aren't goint to dissolve either. The property search/seizure laws will not be changed, the losses are not going to go away.


David

[rock jock]

Folks, if you want to promote legalization of pot or any other drugs, go right ahead. I am to the point of probably agreeing with you on many of your arguments. BUT, to claim that MJ is not harmful is ludicrous. Furthermore, to rely on "medical information" from pro-MJ groups is no different than relying on the VPC for gun-related data. You lose all the validity of your position when start making, frankly, stupid statements like that.

[LiquidTension]

Yay, now I've been called close minded AND stupid.

rock jock said:

to rely on "medical information" from pro-MJ groups is no different than relying on the VPC for gun-related data. You lose all the validity of your position when start making, frankly, stupid statements like that.

How is that different from relying on GOA (a pro-gun group) for gun info? If I'm not mistaken, there was a study released a few weeks ago by a medical group that showed there are no ill effects of marijuana. Should we not listen to them either? The thing you're not seeing is that groups that are pro liberty (guns, pot) usually get their info from reliable sources because they don't have to lie to prove their point, unlike VPC and anti-liberty groups that have to make stuff up to "prove" their point.

As for stupid statements, what I say is based on my extensive personal experience. You may not like it, but it is the truth as I have seen it. I know that some people do experience bad things from smoking pot (other drugs, etc) but to claim that I'm stupid for not believing that pot is the devil simply reaks of not wanting to see the possibility that it isn't as bad as the media claims it is.

[Jim March]

The "War On (Some) Drugs" is *directly* linked to US violence levels.

The same prohibitionist mindset that criminalizes the drugs drives up the violence levels, which gives them political fodder to ban guns, which drives up the violence levels MORE, which gives political fodder to ban guns...and round and round.

If the drug issue is banned from THR, I'll personally quit. It would mean that the root causes of violence in the US, probably the BIGGEST root cause, is considered too touchy to talk about.

At which point this forum would be useless.

[gunsmith]

When I wuz a lonely teenage bronkin buck
with a pink carnation and a pick up truck,
I woulda been outa luck without teen gals
that wernt smart as me....heh
FREE THE FERRETS NOW
/
WHERE am I