Most worthless person in LA
By Thoreau
The Los Angeles District Attorney, having solved every other crime problem in the county, has decided to start going after medical marijuana dispensaries. He’s concerned that (1) some of them may be turning a profit (the law apparently forbids this), (2) some of them may be buying rather than growing their own, and (3) some of their patients might not really need pot.
I dare say he’s probably right. They probably are breaking the law by buying stuff and selling it for a profit to people who might not strictly need the stuff. The question is, is this a “problem” worth solving? Are there no other violations of the law for him to turn his attention to? Can he not finding a single fucking thing that would be a better use of his time? It’s probably true that some of these medical pot dispensaries are upsetting the fabric of the space-time continuum by turning a profit on recreational sales. Color me less than shocked. The fact remains that if he goes after them there will be sick, desperate people who get hurt. But I guess that screwing over some cancer patients is a price worth paying if it stops just one person from getting high for fun.
I have a list of things that would be a better use of his time:
1) Corruption investigations in the LAPD.
2) Corruption investigations at local defense contractors. (Strictly speaking this might be a federal matter, but instead of working with the DEA on some sort of local-federal task force, surely it would be a better use of his time to do a local-federal task force on corruption.)
3) Corruption investigations at city hall.
4) Ticketing jackasses who park their humvees in spaces that are too small and make it impossible for me to use the adjacent spot.
5) Arresting celebrities so the dying newspaper business has something to write about in their last days.
6) Scratching his ass.
7) Strict enforcement of physical fitness requirements for cops.
8) Arresting idiots who feed the pigeons outside fast food restaurants. How am I going to enjoy my french fries if the pigeons were taught to hang out at my table? There must be some sort of law against feeding wild animals.
9) Getting baked during a concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
10) Cleaning up coyote turds on the trails at Griffith Park.
All of these things would be a better use of his time than going after medical pot dispensaries.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
October 10, 2009 @ 8:13 pm
11. Organizing a city-wide charity among officers that’s for people other than cops or cops’ families.
12. Having some officers try out that old-school British no-guns thing. (Try the more personable officers for this.)
13. Selling accurate maps-to-the-stars-crime-scenes. Donate money to charity in #11.
Comment by All Your Summer Songs —
October 10, 2009 @ 11:37 pm
Solving the murders of Biggie & Tupac.
But that would go along with policing corruption within the LAPD.
Comment by Kolohe —
October 11, 2009 @ 1:19 am
Wasn’t 2pac killed in Vegas so isn’t that CSI’s job?
Comment by joe from Lowell —
October 11, 2009 @ 11:51 am
Wow, this has “shooting yourself in the foot” written all over it. Imagine you’re a middle-of-the-road Californian who supported medicinal marijuana, but doesn’t support legalization. What could possibly get you to vote for legalization more effectively than law enforcement making it clear that voting for legalization is the only way to keep the clinics open?
You know, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here, but I’m starting to suspect that drug warriors might not be the greatest strategic thinkers on the planet.
Comment by Kolohe —
October 11, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
You know, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here, but I’m starting to suspect that drug warriors might not be the greatest strategic thinkers on the planet.
They’ve done pretty well for themselves so far. And I think you underestimate the apathy of the middle of the road voter wrt these ‘niche’ issues. As well the strength of the ‘But the Childrens!’ counterattack to a full legalization scheme – even in California.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
October 11, 2009 @ 1:53 pm
If the situation was that hopeless, Kolohe, the original initiative would never have passed.
Comment by dhex —
October 11, 2009 @ 2:03 pm
i’ve heard murmurs from folks who live out there that the “we’re so boned on the budget we might have to legalize it” conversation is showing up in more mainstream forums. thoreau, does this gel with what you’ve seen? or are my friends hanging out with refer madness?
Comment by joe from Lowell —
October 11, 2009 @ 2:28 pm
In the larger picture, this episode is how medicinal mj will eventually lead to legalization.
It is inevitable that a great of deal of pot will be diverted for recreational use, and that an even larger amount will go to people who get a doctor to sign off they they get kinda depressed sometimes, or get a stiff lower back every once in a while.
But now, the question becomes, do we take away the pot from the cancer patients to keep that from happening? Now that doing so will require an affirmative “opt-out,” will voters do so? I don’t think they will.
Comment by b —
October 11, 2009 @ 2:35 pm
The assholes in the San Diego PD are doing the same thing (when they aren’t busting up Democratic fundraisers).
Comment by Thoreau —
October 11, 2009 @ 2:42 pm
joe, that’s one possible scenario, and I wouldn’t rule it out.
But for every person who said “You know, I voted for this because I thought it would help sick people, and I’m pissed that the cops are getting in the way” there could be a person who says “You know, I voted for this because I thought it would help sick people, and I’m pissed that these stoners are taking advantage of it.”
A rational person who puts the compassion side of the issue first will prioritize the sick person and lead to the outcome you and I are both hoping for, but the psychology underlying the Drug War is complicated. There’s a lot of fear and hypocrisy behind it–how else to explain that the Boomers got stoned in the 60’s but then went on to support a bipartisan consensus in favor of escalating the Drug War in the 80’s and 90’s?
I hope that the compassion side of the equation prevails, but my fear is that all of the irrational objections to recreational use will prevail. And there’s a lot of people whose livelihoods depend on those objections prevailing, and they’ll spend money to help it: Drug dealers, Narc units, prison guards, and public employees at every level who get paid off by drug dealers
Comment by Thoreau —
October 11, 2009 @ 2:45 pm
dhex-
I spend most of my time around latte-sippers who are sympathetic to legalization. It’s harder for me to discern shifts. But the Republican in-laws and their suburban friends seem more sympathetic these days. Or maybe they’re just used to my crazy ideas.
A state legislator did recently introduce a legalization bill, but he’s a lefty (even by CA standards) rather than a part of the mainstream machine, so you can’t use him as a weathervane. It would be like predicting a crack in the bipartisan consensus because Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich both endorse legalization.
The most promising evidence is (1) Schwarzenegger made some noises in that direction, and he’s very much a moderate (although one should never count on a politician to follow through on positive noises) and (2) Oakland voted on a local sales tax on medical pot, tying the city coffers to medical pot and hence changing the incentive structure.
Comment by All Your Summer Songs —
October 11, 2009 @ 8:42 pm
You know Schwarzenegger’s been alternating Cohibas with Blounts.
& if Gov. Moonbeam gets back in, it will do for the drug-rug what Nehru did for… well… the Nehru.
Comment by Chris —
October 11, 2009 @ 10:36 pm
Just passing through this blog. Good post. One would hope that this idea by the District Att. would find some strong opposition by activist groups, patients, doctors, etc.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
October 12, 2009 @ 11:26 am
Thoreau,
You raise legitimate worries, but to this:
I say, I explain by pointing out that there is a difference between crack and marijuana. People supported ramping up the WoD in the midst of the crack wars, when crime was through the roof. They lumped in marijuana with crack.
What the medicinal marijuana movement has done is further reinforce the distinction between marijuana and hard drugs in people’s mind. I mean, can you imagine your Republican in-laws even entertaining the idea of legalizing cocaine for the tax revenues?