4 ms·

> Not arrest people for doing things it's been ordered to arrest people for doing Yes. No one’s ordered police to focus on anyone one kind of crime. Police in

by elil17 6y ago

> Not arrest people for doing things it's been ordered to arrest people for doing Yes. No one’s ordered police to focus on anyone one kind of crime. Police in America have total discretion to choose which laws they enforce and which they don’t. In Arizona you can get six months in jail for spitting in a public park, but you don’t see Arizona cops trying to arrest everyone for that. It’s a federal crime to let your dog bark in a National Park but the park police don’t really care. Similarly, there’s nothing forcing cops to focus on marijuana possession.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
Is there a reason to believe these drug possession arrests were primarily for marijuana? New Jersey passed a law in mid 2020 to decriminalize it starting January, so I’d be surprised if it were a big police focus in the interval.
ineedasername 6y ago
focus on marijuana possession NJ recently legalized weed, so pretty soon those arrests won't be an issue.
- srswtf123 6y ago
  Except see Chicago, where its also legal, and arresting black people for marijuana related crimes continues unabated. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-marijuana-legalization-parallel-worlds-20210415-4hydfuinvje27mtctklm7dq4r4-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-marijuana-le...
  - refurb 6y ago
    ”Most arrests involve possessing or attempting to sell amounts over the legal limit of 30 grams. I mean, they are breaking the new marijuana laws. Is this wrong? If I try and make my own moonshine and sell it I’ll go to jail too.
    - wolverine876 6y ago
      Will you? It depends on the law, the resources law enforcement dedicates to moonshine enforcement, the attitude toward you of the individual officers, and your personal power - including your ability to afford a good lawyer. And much of that is strongly correlated with race.
    - quickthrowman 6y ago
      Making your own moonshine can kill people via methanol poisoning. Weed can’t kill you. What’s your point again? Hundreds of thousands of pounds of weed are sold via the black market every year, yet nobody dies[0]. You could also never be caught for moonshining, I know drug dealers who have sold for years without any police contact. [0] People died from consuming THC carts that were tainted with Vitamin E acetate. Otherwise, weed products have not killed anyone ever.
      - leetcrew 6y ago
        > People died from consuming THC carts that were tainted with Vitamin E acetate. Otherwise, weed products have not killed anyone ever. there are also concerns about microbial contamination with weed that is improperly grown/processed. this is exactly why weed ought to be legal but regulated. people engaged in grey market sales are performing an end run around the new safety regulations.
        lupire 6y ago
        Is microbial contamination of weed more dangerous than contamination of vegetables?
        leetcrew 6y ago
        I dunno, probably depends on the microbe? there are also laws that apply to produce growers over a certain (very low) revenue threshold, if that's what you're getting at. but anyways, that's kinda besides the point. if people are growing stuff for their own consumption, I don't really care how safely they do it. I'm all for people distilling whiskey at their own risk. but if you're going to make money selling stuff to other people, it should be as safe as is reasonably possible. somehow I get the idea that random dudes selling flowers/concentrates/cartridges aren't looking that deeply into their supply chain. people died recently from what should be a fairly harmless plant.
  - dgfitz 6y ago
    > Black and brown people are left out of the windfall and continue to be arrested for selling weed illegally. I would hazard a guess that if they were instead selling bootlegged booze illegally they would also be arrested. I’m not clear what point you’re trying to make.
    - refenestrator 6y ago
      I hear you, but: 1) Selling bootleg booze has health/quality risks that selling weed doesn't. You don't see crackdowns on people selling other plants without a license. 2) Legalizing possession and then only giving licenses to well-connected people who are excellent at getting paperwork through the system is, well, a lot better than nothing but doesn't really solve the whole problem.
      - OJFord 6y ago
        Why does the business of selling cannabis need to be so accessible? If someone wants to do it, they can put in the work to 'get the paperwork through the system'; if they just want it to be available to them and their friends, well, now it is, because someone else has put in that work. I don't really see the issue? (But then, I'm glad to live in a country that hasn't legalised it, so what do I know.)
        refenestrator 6y ago
        In most states the licenses are extremely hard to get, it's not a matter of just 'putting in the work'. They're effectively out of reach for your standard weed dealer.
        ineedasername 6y ago
        A standard weed dealer is not on the same level as the person that would get the license. A standard dealer is part of a very large organization. They're the equivalent of a person working a cash register. I expect it's extremely hard for someone who starts out working the register at a McDonalds to become a franchise owner. That's not to say that getting a license isn't harder than starting a fast food franchise, but the metric of difficulty we use here shouldn't be the typical weed dealer. Probably a better comparison would be an entrepreneur trying to start a liquor store. Even then, it makes sense to me that as society tries to figure out the best way to do this, it goes carefully & with a lot of scrutiny to figure out how to do it right. It's not the sort of thing that should have a "move fast & break things" approach.
jacobolus 6y ago
> It’s a federal crime to let your dog bark in a National Park but the park police don’t really care. The regulation (36 CFR § 2.15) says it is prohibited to take pets to any “area closed to the possession of pets”, or to “[allow] a pet to make noise that is unreasonable considering location, time of day or night, impact on park users, and other relevant factors, or that frightens wildlife”. It is entirely reasonable to have this written down, so that it can be enforced if necessary. The presence of dogs has a significant impact on the behavior of wild animals, and park rangers absolutely do care if you bring your dog to areas of a National Park where it should not be, or if your dog is incessantly barking or howling in areas of the park where it is a nuisance. They will walk up to you and tell you to take your dog directly back to your car, or tell you to shut your dog up or leave. If you refuse to follow directions / give them a hard time about it, this regulation gives them authority to take further action, including charging a fine etc.

by elil17 6y ago

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

Is there a reason to believe these drug possession arrests were primarily for marijuana? New Jersey passed a law in mid 2020 to decriminalize it starting January, so I’d be surprised if it were a big police focus in the interval.

ineedasername 6y ago

focus on marijuana possession NJ recently legalized weed, so pretty soon those arrests won't be an issue.

srswtf123 6y ago
Except see Chicago, where its also legal, and arresting black people for marijuana related crimes continues unabated. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-marijuana-legalization-parallel-worlds-20210415-4hydfuinvje27mtctklm7dq4r4-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-marijuana-le...
- refurb 6y ago
  ”Most arrests involve possessing or attempting to sell amounts over the legal limit of 30 grams. I mean, they are breaking the new marijuana laws. Is this wrong? If I try and make my own moonshine and sell it I’ll go to jail too.
  - wolverine876 6y ago
    Will you? It depends on the law, the resources law enforcement dedicates to moonshine enforcement, the attitude toward you of the individual officers, and your personal power - including your ability to afford a good lawyer. And much of that is strongly correlated with race.
  - quickthrowman 6y ago
    Making your own moonshine can kill people via methanol poisoning. Weed can’t kill you. What’s your point again? Hundreds of thousands of pounds of weed are sold via the black market every year, yet nobody dies[0]. You could also never be caught for moonshining, I know drug dealers who have sold for years without any police contact. [0] People died from consuming THC carts that were tainted with Vitamin E acetate. Otherwise, weed products have not killed anyone ever.
    - leetcrew 6y ago
      > People died from consuming THC carts that were tainted with Vitamin E acetate. Otherwise, weed products have not killed anyone ever. there are also concerns about microbial contamination with weed that is improperly grown/processed. this is exactly why weed ought to be legal but regulated. people engaged in grey market sales are performing an end run around the new safety regulations.
      - lupire 6y ago
        Is microbial contamination of weed more dangerous than contamination of vegetables?
        leetcrew 6y ago
        I dunno, probably depends on the microbe? there are also laws that apply to produce growers over a certain (very low) revenue threshold, if that's what you're getting at. but anyways, that's kinda besides the point. if people are growing stuff for their own consumption, I don't really care how safely they do it. I'm all for people distilling whiskey at their own risk. but if you're going to make money selling stuff to other people, it should be as safe as is reasonably possible. somehow I get the idea that random dudes selling flowers/concentrates/cartridges aren't looking that deeply into their supply chain. people died recently from what should be a fairly harmless plant.
- dgfitz 6y ago
  > Black and brown people are left out of the windfall and continue to be arrested for selling weed illegally. I would hazard a guess that if they were instead selling bootlegged booze illegally they would also be arrested. I’m not clear what point you’re trying to make.
  - refenestrator 6y ago
    I hear you, but: 1) Selling bootleg booze has health/quality risks that selling weed doesn't. You don't see crackdowns on people selling other plants without a license. 2) Legalizing possession and then only giving licenses to well-connected people who are excellent at getting paperwork through the system is, well, a lot better than nothing but doesn't really solve the whole problem.
    - OJFord 6y ago
      Why does the business of selling cannabis need to be so accessible? If someone wants to do it, they can put in the work to 'get the paperwork through the system'; if they just want it to be available to them and their friends, well, now it is, because someone else has put in that work. I don't really see the issue? (But then, I'm glad to live in a country that hasn't legalised it, so what do I know.)
      - refenestrator 6y ago
        In most states the licenses are extremely hard to get, it's not a matter of just 'putting in the work'. They're effectively out of reach for your standard weed dealer.
        ineedasername 6y ago
        A standard weed dealer is not on the same level as the person that would get the license. A standard dealer is part of a very large organization. They're the equivalent of a person working a cash register. I expect it's extremely hard for someone who starts out working the register at a McDonalds to become a franchise owner. That's not to say that getting a license isn't harder than starting a fast food franchise, but the metric of difficulty we use here shouldn't be the typical weed dealer. Probably a better comparison would be an entrepreneur trying to start a liquor store. Even then, it makes sense to me that as society tries to figure out the best way to do this, it goes carefully & with a lot of scrutiny to figure out how to do it right. It's not the sort of thing that should have a "move fast & break things" approach.

jacobolus 6y ago

> It’s a federal crime to let your dog bark in a National Park but the park police don’t really care. The regulation (36 CFR § 2.15) says it is prohibited to take pets to any “area closed to the possession of pets”, or to “[allow] a pet to make noise that is unreasonable considering location, time of day or night, impact on park users, and other relevant factors, or that frightens wildlife”. It is entirely reasonable to have this written down, so that it can be enforced if necessary. The presence of dogs has a significant impact on the behavior of wild animals, and park rangers absolutely do care if you bring your dog to areas of a National Park where it should not be, or if your dog is incessantly barking or howling in areas of the park where it is a nuisance. They will walk up to you and tell you to take your dog directly back to your car, or tell you to shut your dog up or leave. If you refuse to follow directions / give them a hard time about it, this regulation gives them authority to take further action, including charging a fine etc.