Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement (JADE) task force officers have arrested seventeen people in “Operation: Fall Round-Up,” an undercover operation intended to snare low-level crack and marijuana dealers. Said C’ville Lt. Robert Frazier, they got people that weren’t big dealers, but that sell drugs to maintain their habit. The Cav Daily has the story.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
four six and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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What a waste of time and money. This ill-conceived drug war is a war on our own citizens. It reminds me of the Taliban outlawing any behavior they decide is immoral. Why do we care if someone is smoking a joint and having a good time?
Fifteen of the 17 were selling cocaine. And they weren’t just “smoking a joint and having a good time.” They were selling. I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for those who sell cocaine or crack. And if you think cocaine use is a victimless crime, you have some learning to do.
When the US starts outlawing clean-shaven faces and kite flying, you can start comparing them to the Taliban. Until then, it’s a uselessly hyperbolic comparison.
For the record, although I am opposed to marijuana use, I do think it is of a different degree than cocaine or crack use — certainly less damaging than alcohol use. But that’s for another discussion.
The selling is part of the addiction. It’s a medical problem. You don’t address the medical problem, and you get social problems.
Why are some drugs moral and others immoral? Why is it okay to jack up on caffiene, chill out on Prozac, or get drunk on alcohol…why is it bad to shoot heroin, drop acid, smoke pot, and sniff cocaine? Why do we feed our kids Ridalin (sorry, i can’t spell) to make them behave, then tell them “Just Say No to Drugs”? Isn’t that hypocracy? Does anyone realize that long-term television watching is more damaging to the brain than a daily joint?
It is abuse, not use, that makes drugs immoral. And ANY drug can be abused.
This whole Drug War reminds me of the battle of the sexes. At first it was risky for women to show their ankles, then their calves, then their thighs, and now nothing is risky except nudity. When laws are nothing but lines in the moral sand, they’ll keep getting redrawn. No matter what politicians and police do, America’s demand for drugs will never end, and the black market will continue to grow. As long as drug addiction is treated as a crime and not a medical and psychological problem, addiction will get worse. Poor black communities will continue to be ravaged by addiction and disproportionate arrest rates.
When will our politicians start making laws based on our shared reality, not their own personal morality?
I just wish the lawmakers would listen to scientists and doctors, so we could have an informed public policy on this issue. All this crap about being “soft” on this or that makes me queasy. It’s not about soft or hard, coddling or toughness. It’s a medical problem (to the extent that it’s a problem at all – and absent addiction, it’s not a problem) and calls for intelligence and compassion, not some politician’s idea of “toughness.”
Arresting people for selling can lead to treatment for the arrested. and if supply dries up will that not reduce new addicts. I agree the the war on drugs cannot be won- but does that mean it should not be fought?
Yes, it does.
Our friends in the UK have radically changed their drug policy over the last few months. We didn’t notice because the media has their panties in a wad over bin laden.
“England’s first and only Amsterdam-style marijuana coffee shop is drawing approximately 500 patrons per day, reports Britain’s Guardian Unlimited Observer newspaper. The Dutch Experience café, which allows recreational and medicinal marijuana users to openly consume pot on the premises, has steadily grown in popularity since its September 15 opening while simultaneously attracting only minor attention from police.”
http://www.norml.org/news/index.shtml#story1
Alcohol was outlawed in the ’20s and ’30s – what good came of that? It made criminals of people who continued to drink the stuff and make it in their bathtubs or wherever.
Lots of money spent on enforcing those laws, lots of lives ruined by arresting people and sending them to jail. Alcohol is MUCH more dangerous than, say, marijuana. Hundreds of thousands of people die every year due to alcohol use. How many died last year from marijuana use? Zero – that’s how many.
So, no, we shouldn’t be fighting this foolish war.
If anyone reading this agrees, I hope you’ll contact your delegate, senators and congressman. Speak up, otherwise, how will they know what we want them to do about it?
where is this ? London? what’s the address?
Pot is not crack… I smoke pot and do not need treatment. I have an interesting and good life, with a good job and nice girl and a nice house etc. I am well educated and sometimes well spoken. I have never committed a drug related crime except the actual use of the drug. Exactly why should I be arrested? And what treatment do I need?
I’m not sure if you’re being facetious or just naive.
Again, I have different opinions about marijuana use, but since this particular sting dealt primarily with cocaine, that’s what I’m discussing.
Have you ever witnessed the downward spiral of someone who is addicted to crack cocaine? Have you seen a person who’s been driven to rob convenience stores to support their addiction, because they’ve already pawned everything of value that they own? Have you seen this happen to someone who also happens to be a father and husband?
“As long as drug addiction is treated as a crime and not a medical and psychological problem, addiction will get worse.”
I suggest to you that as long as drug addiction goes hand in hand with robbery, theft, violence and prostitution — as it so often does — it will be treated as a crime. While it may be nice to compare it to ritalin and the battle of the sexes, the stakes are too high to use only treatment, particularly when most rehab programs have absolutely dismal long-term success rates. Treatment has to be coupled with legal ramifications.
You can’t use the strawman of marijuana’s non-lethality to support the broad idea that we should not be fighting a war against drugs. What about crack, heroin, LSD, etc?
As for marijuana deaths — do we include the deaths of those who have been killed by someone under the influence of marijuana? I’m sure we do, since those killed by drunk drivers are included in the number of alcohol-related deaths — in which case your claim is incorrect.
For someone pointing out fallicies in logic, you sure are full of shit.
First off, he’s not using the straw man tactic. Which, if you dont know, is misrepresenting someone else’s position so that it can be attacked more easily, knocking down that misrepresented position, then concluding that the original position has been demolished. It’s a fallacy because it fails to deal with the actual arguments that have been made.
He didn’t misrepresent anyone’s position. It is widely accepted that marijuana is non-addictive and non-toxic. Infact, it is the anti-drug position that is misrepresented to begin with. He didn’t say anything about crack/heroin/LSD. And he never stated that hard drugs should be lumped in with marijuana for the purposes of his argument.
A stunning example of anti-drug misrepresentation is your assumption that we should include whatever number of murders are comitted under the influence of marijuana. Its not possible for me to prove a negative. Personally, I’ve never heard of such a thing happening, and I would not be suprised if you found an equal or greater number of murders committed under the influence of milk, coca cola, chocolate, nicotine, paint fumes, etc. Do we ban coca cola, and send people to prison for 5 years for posessing it? How would you feel if your son/daughter was in jail for 5-10 years because they had milk in their fridge, and some other guy who also posessed milk killed someone?
Do you also include people who died while under the influence of marijuana? If your grandfather died of a heart attack with a joint in his mouth, would you conclude that it was the “devil’s weed” that killed him? Or massive cardioinfarction?
It is true that 99.9% of violent crime in this country is a result of the drug problem. But violent crime is usually the result of junkies who need to get their fix every day, and will beg, borrow, and steal to get it. This is simply not a problem associated with marijuana use. You dont see high school kids knocking over liquor stores to get cash for more weed. It simply doesnt happen. Most marijuana users are just like you, they have a house, a job, a family, a dog. They pay their taxes, and they certainly dont commit murder.
The war on drugs isnt about “protecting our children” or “treating the addicts”. It’s simply about putting as many people in prison as possible. Those people are your mothers/fathers/sons/daughters/friends/lovers.
Each year, the FBI’s division of Uniform Crime Reports releases arrest statistics for the previous year in the annual volume of crime in the Unites States. The 1997 data, released on November 22, 1998, revealed that state and local authorities made 695,201 marijuana arrests in 1997 Of these arrests, 87.2% (606,519) were for “possession.” Only 12.8% (88,682 arrests) were for “sale/manufacture,” which includes all cultivation offenses (even for personal use) and often includes possession of an amount large enough,
usually more than an ounce, that “intent to deliver” is inferred (even though it may have actually been intended for personal use). This 80/20 ratio has remained fairly constant for more than a decade.
Assuming recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 of every 20 Americans (5%) can be expected to serve time in prison during their lifetime. for African American men, the number is greater than 1 in 4 (28.5%).
There has never been a “drug free” society; it defies reason. It is hubristic, arrogant, and totalitarian for a small, loud special-interest group to try to impose its morality on the rest of society, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THAT PROHIBITION ITSELF IS THE CAUSE OF MOST DRUG-RELATED HARMS.
In the city of Stockport, a suburb of Manchester.
Dutch Experience, 12-15 Hooper Street, Stockport Village, Stockport, UK. Tel: 01614805902.
This is in the centre of Stockport Village, 2 mins from main train station.
The closest thing they have to a web site:
http://212.129.240.114/upload/showthread.php?s=&threadid=128
Sorry, friend, it is a straw man. When a story is posted about (mostly) cocaine dealers being arrested, and a bunch of people reply with comments like “no one ever got hurt by marijuana” and conclude that the war on drugs is therefore useless, THAT is a strawman.
“He didn’t say anything about crack/heroin/LSD”
That’s my whole point. The story is about a group of people who were arrested for drug sales, mostly cocaine. Why will no one address this? People are so worried about their right to casually toke up at home with their girlfriend/boyfriend that they can’t give any serious analysis to the problem of more dangerous narcotics.
“A stunning example of anti-drug misrepresentation is your assumption that blah blah blah”
Did you even read what I said? What on earth are you talking about? Anyway, thank you for perfectly illustrating a typical pro-drug straw man argument with your “getting thrown in jail for possession of milk” example. Being “under the influence” of a substance does not merely mean that have somehow consumed that substance. It means your judgement/performance is detrimentally impaired by said substance to such a degree that you are a danger to yourself and others.
I’m not here to rail against marijuana use, as I’ve already stated in other posts. After all, going by what I read here, all marijuana users are educated, wealthy, successful productive members of society.
“It is hubristic, arrogant, and totalitarian for a small, loud special-interest group to try to impose its morality on the rest of society.”
Are you talking about the pro-drug group or the anti-drug group here? Oh, that’s right, only the opposition is hubristic, arrogant and totalitarian. When it’s our side, we say things like “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
But addiction IS a disease. You don’t throw someone who has a disease, ANY disease, in jail. You get them help.