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Title: A cop's Take on Marijuana and Booze
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Published: Oct 1, 2006
Author: Unknown
Post Date: 2006-10-01 20:50:41 by YertleTurtle
Keywords: None
Views: 115
Comments: 5
I read on Drudge this morning that Willy Nelson got popped again for simple possession of grass and ‘shrooms. Remember some time ago when I wrote to you, I did so as a non-traditional student with six kids and a pregnant wife. Before I became a non-traditional student, I was a police officer. Not only was I the po-po but I was on a specialized unit called “The Proactive Team” and our primary mission was street level narcotics intervention. You can’t imagine a cooler job for a young man. It was nothing but foot chases, car chases, uses of force and kicking in doors. Every day was an adrenalin dump par excellence. Every day we dressed in black BDUs, rode two-deep in our cars, went into bad neighborhoods, mostly black, stopped everyone we could for any reason we could and arrested everybody we could. The average number of arrests for a normal officer per month is probably 3 or 4 or some similarly small number. I led my unit with somewhere around 5 arrests per night. It was easy to do and anyone willing to work hard could have posted similar numbers. The reason it was so easy is simple: the Marijuana seed. After making a traffic stop, I would approach the car and start talking to the driver. The whole time he was talking I was looking for that little tear-drop shaped, black and tan seed. I have 20/13 vision so spotting them became easy once I knew what to look for and realized how common they were. Once I spotted the seed, the driver would be quickly taken into custody and I would get to perform a “search incident to an arrest.” And this is what I was truly after because the arrest that generated envy among your fellow officers was for crack. I loved what I did, had a lot of fun doing it but if I had it to do over again, I would never arrest a single person for possession of marijuana. In looking back on those years as the po-po, I realized that marijuana is probably society’s best friend even though those of us who don’t use it look down on those who do with such contempt. Why do I say this? In the 3 ½ years that I was a cop, I responded to hundreds if not thousands of calls for service to intervene in crimes of violence. And every cop out there that is honest will tell you that if a crime of violence is being committed, alcohol is involved. Domestics, fight calls, murders, rapes, assaults, etc range from usually to almost always having alcohol as the underlying element. Fifty percent of all traffic fatalities have alcohol as the underlying causative factor. Everyone in the world knows that if a person gets drunk they get stupid. Everyone out there can relate to people that are “sad drunks”: guys that get toasted and start crying and telling you how much they love you, blah, blah, blah. Just as many can relate to “mad drunks.” Just as many can relate to “stupid drunks.” We all know that the distinguishing feature of alcohol is that it lowers inhibitions. That’s what leads to the sad drunk phenomenon. You would never see two non-fudge-packing-type guys who are best friends sit around telling how much they love one another. Get ‘em drunk though and if one is a “sad drunk” then that scene may very well play itself out. When I get together with old friends from the college days, we still make fun of ol’ Joe who every stinking time he got drunk would start slobbering all over us telling us how much he loved us. This is assuming ol’ Joe isn’t around. If he is then we start talking about how Steve was a violent drunk and every time he got wasted, we would have to pull him out of the bar lest he get all of our drunk asses whipped from running his stupid, drunk mouth. I cringe at the conversations that take place when I am not around. Then there is marijuana. During those same 3 ½ years as a cop, not a single time did I ever answer a call for service to find guys high on MJ that were causing a problem. Not a single fight, not a single domestic, not a single traffic accident, nothing. Ever. In 3 ½ years of answering hundreds if not thousands of calls for service associated with violence, not a single time was the weed the underlying factor. I assure you that my experience is the same as cops everywhere. If you were to become a cop, in short order you would see the same thing for yourself. You would be called on a regular basis to clean up after a bunch of drunks or the drunks themselves but you would never be called upon to clean up after folks smoking blunts. Just aint never gonna happen. From what I understand, if a person smokes a joint, the most common reaction is that they want to play video games and eat. Contrast that to the reaction that people have when sauced. Then ask yourself, as long as mind altering substances WILL be used, would you rather live in a society of those that do mind altering substances and then want to play video games? or would you prefer that they tear things up, wreck cars, start fights, and cause general mayhem? But what about the cost to the individual? I now work in the health care industry and am regularly called to consult on cases in our A & D unit. A& D is the alcohol and drug dependency unit. I read the medical history in each patient’s chart before I actually meet them and in reading hundreds if not thousands of patient histories, I have never seen a person in our A&D unit there to get help with problems associated with marijuana. Alcohol and prescription medication (usually loritab) are BY FAR the most common causes for admission to our A&D unit. Crack is also fairly common. However, once you exhaust those three drugs, you have covered 100% of those that I have seen that are seeking treatment. The important point is that it AINT marijuana. And then we have the personal testimonies of hundreds if not thousands of people that I know personally that have both smoked dope and used alcohol. Without exception, of those who have tried both that I have spoken with, every single one of them say that marijuana is BY FAR the more preferable substance for all of the reasons that I stated here save two: marijuana is illegal whereas alcohol isn’t and no jobs piss-test for alcohol but do for MJ. They each tell me that if Marijuana were legal, they would never drink another beer. Do you think Miller Brewing Co. knows this? Do you think they might be lining the pockets of our politicians to keep the status quo? My prediction is that if we were to legalize marijuana then over night our murder rate would drop by 60%, rape would drop by 60%, assaults against police officers would drop by 88%, traffic accidents would drop by 50%, and traffic fatalities would drop by 50%. Why these particular numbers? Because these are the percentages of these crimes committed by those under the influence of alcohol. One more prediction: Miller Brewing Co.’s stock price would drop by 50% over night. After having been the most aggressive cop on the most aggressive street level narcotics unit that I know anything about I am forced to ask myself: Was I a hired thug of Miller Brewing Co.? So let me apologize to Mr. Nelson for the ignorant actions of my brother officer. Forgive him sir, for he knows not what he has done. And also forgive me for had that been the me of five years ago that stopped you, I would have done the same. However, had that been me now that stopped you, I would have lit one up with you (actually I wouldn't have because cops get piss tested but I would have certainly let you smoke em if you got em.)
Poster Comment: I'll take 10,000 tokers over one drunk. I've had far too much experience with the latter.
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#1. To: YertleTurtle (#0)
Great report from the street. Thanks.
Distilled Spirits Council of The United States along with the brewers act as enforcers in DC to any pol who might want to make some reasonable changes in MJ's classification. They do have a little floating around.
PING!
“The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity, since the tastes, knowledge, and principles of the majority form the tribunal of appeal.” James Fenimore Cooper
That would be "They do have a little $$$$$ floating around."
#2. To: YertleTurtle (#0)
#3. To: IndieTX (#0)
#4. To: All (#2)
They do have a little floating around.
#5. To: BTP Holdings, *LEAP* (#3)
***LEAP***
"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. Government will lead the American people, and the West in general, into an unbearable hell and choking life.
-- Osama bin Laden
"A prohibition law strikes at the very principles upon which our govt was founded."
- Lincoln
All our liberties are due to men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land.
--William K Clifford
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