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Marijuana Prohibition Leads to Death of Young Man

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Ursus:
From the Marijuana Policy Project blog:

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MPP blog

Marijuana Prohibition Leads to Death of Young Man

by Robert Capecchi
August 3, 2011

On July 2, Eric Perez turned eighteen. On July 10, his family mourned his untimely death.

Mr. Perez suffered a medical emergency while being held at a detention center in Florida. Despite vomiting and crying for help, Mr. Perez was left to suffer for over six hours before receiving medical attention. Tragically, by the time he was seen by emergency personnel, it was too late. So what was Mr. Perez doing in a detention center to begin with? The non-violent act of possessing a small amount of marijuana.

On the night of June 29, three days before his eighteenth birthday, police stopped Mr. Perez for riding his bicycle without a night-light. Police searched Mr. Perez and found the marijuana. Mr. Perez was on probation for a "years old" robbery charge and was cuffed and sent to a detention center. It was in this detention center that he breathed his last breath.

Let's engage in a thought experiment here. Say Florida had a taxed and regulated system of marijuana distribution for adult, non-medical use. In that scenario, Mr. Perez is never arrested for possessing a small amount of a relatively harmless drug. He may even be praised for choosing to ride his bicycle as opposed to driving a car. Perhaps he's given a ticket or sent to drug education for underage possession of marijuana. Either way, in this hypothetical, Mr. Perez is not in jail during his medical emergency, thus providing him a better chance of receiving prompt medical attention. Mr. Perez could still be alive.

Even a policy that simply decriminalizes the possession of only a small amount of marijuana would have been preferable. Fourteen other states have already removed the possibility of jail time for possessing a small amount of marijuana and replaced it with a simple civil violation. If Florida were one of them, Mr. Perez would have been given a ticket and sent on his way. Again, all indications point to the fact that had his medical emergency happened on the outside, he would have stood a much better chance of surviving.

Unfortunately for Mr. Perez's family, we do not live our lives in hypotheticals. Policy decisions carry with them very real consequences. When it comes to our current marijuana policy, those consequences tend to lean towards the tragic — lost lives, destroyed families, and government waste. Until we replace our failed marijuana policies with more sensible and less destructive alternatives, we will continue to see stories like Mr. Perez's.

Tagged with: death and decriminalize and detention center and emergency and Eric Perez and Florida and medical and possession and Tax and Regulate by the author


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none-ya:
This (fl) will be the last state in the union to adjust it's marijuana laws. If you would have asked me back in high school what changes the 21st. century will bring,I would have said video phones,flying cars,and legal pot.
Well 1 out of three ain't SHIT!

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "none-ya" ---This (fl) will be the last state in the union to adjust it's marijuana laws. If you would have asked me back in high school what changes the 21st. century will bring,I would have said video phones,flying cars,and legal pot.
Well 1 out of three ain't SHIT!
--- End quote ---
My guess is Florida has a lot more to adjust than merely its marijuana laws, especially when it comes to its juvenile justice system...


--- Quote from: "Robert Capecchi, in the MPP blog," ---On July 2, Eric Perez turned eighteen. On July 10, his family mourned his untimely death.
--- End quote ---
For more reading, i.e., an attempt to archive news coverage of the Eric Perez case, please see also:


* The world will never know how Eric Perez died
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=37561

none-ya:
But even if they decriminalize marijuana, I'm sure it will still be age restricted like alcohol. Therefore a minor in possession would still get him sent to juvy. And yes this state is a backwater shithole.
I can say that 'cause I live here.

Ursus:
Here are some comments left for the above blog entry in the OP, "Marijuana Prohibition Leads to Death of Young Man" (by Robert Capecchi; August 3, 2011; MPP blog), #s 1-20:


1 KH · { 08.03.11 at 10:12 am }
While Mr. Perez's death is tragic and very unfortunate, it is not the lack of legalization of marijuana in Florida that caused his death, it was the lack of prompt medical attention in the detention center that lead to his death. I have no real stance on legalizing marijuana, so I am not arguing one way or the other, but I don't think that making false attributions is the way to win the argument.

If marijuana was legal, Mr. Perez may have been given a ticket, and then had his medical emergency while driving and could have caused an accident, or been alone in his house, or a myriad of other circumstances that still cased his untimely death. Or he might have gotten the attention he needed and lived. That is not something that can be predicted by the handling of the drug charge. Trying to use this situation as an argument to legalize marijuana is not an effective argument, just an attempt to sensationalize the issue.2 JP · { 08.03.11 at 10:17 am }
I do support marijuana legalization. However, I agree with the previous post. He probably went to jail as a result of probation, not weed. If we are serious about ending marijuana prohibition, then we better express our concerns with facts, not sensational circumstances.3 alex · { 08.03.11 at 10:25 am }
KH, although i agree with your view of the story, the fact of the matter is had he not been arrested chances are he wouldve had the medical care he needed as opposed to being neglected while complaining of his ailment during lockup. Did he suffer in lockup? Yes. Was he given prompt treatment? No. Could he have been treated had staff in jail decided to respond? Yes. Are there greater chances he could have survived had he not been caught with weed? Theres no question about that. Fact of the matter is he could still be alive had they not arrested a bikepedaling pedestrian for a minor infraction of possessing a small quantity of pot.4 Peter · { 08.03.11 at 10:26 am }
this made me cry

fck the shitstem5 AW · { 08.03.11 at 10:51 am }
i completely agree with KH and JP. Whether or not this man would have lived had he not been arrested for breaking the law is pure speculation. For all we know, he would have rode his bike home and o.d'd on meth. You simply cannot speculate, because we have no idea of anything about this guy, including what ailment he suffered from. I'm VERY pro-marijuana legalization, but this story doesn't help the cause one bit. What was his medical emergency? It might not be "relevant" to the pro-marijuana debate, but it's completely relevant to any case you're attempting to build saying that "Prohibition led to his death." This is weak sauce!6 Austin · { 08.03.11 at 11:16 am }
Well, I agree with you alex, but the fact of the matter is; the more sensationalized an idea is, the more people seem to back it. We have to do whatever we can: all is fair in love and WAR, which is what our government has chosen to call this prohibition. As long as we just remain civil...7 Powvboy · { 08.03.11 at 11:26 am }
Firstly, if you have no cannabinoids in your own body please raise your hand. Human bodies make cannabinoids. They regulate our bodies function even on a cellular level. Why is something our bodies make illegal?
He had his medicine on his person. When he was arrested his medicine was taken from him. Sensational to me is the Liberty lost to allow such an arrest to happen. Also sensational is that his medicine was taken from him. Is believing he was familiar with his condition and how to treat it too far of a stretch? Sensational too that he was denied medical assistance from the industrial medical complex while he was in a cage.
He was denied Liberty.
He was denied life.8 Anita Jo Damron-Rousey · { 08.03.11 at 11:31 am }
Follow this closely please. The feds, dea will twist this and blame marijuana as cause of Mr. Perez's death.9 BS · { 08.03.11 at 11:33 am }
I'm all for legalization but this story is stretching it pretty far. It sounds like the problem is with medical attention and response to those in detention centers, not marijuana policies. The argument that he could have lived (better chances) had he not been arrested for weed is a little ridiculous. We don't know what would have happened if he hadn't of been arrested. He could have died 5 minutes after, on his way home. By this logic, let's blame the inventors of airplanes for 9/11. If those assholes would have never made planes, they wouldn't have been able to fly em into buildings!10 MCS · { 08.03.11 at 12:00 pm }
A probabtion for a 'years old' robbery charge AND he's in criminal posession of marijuana?

1. the two bits of information we get about Mr. Perez show me that he has little to no respect for the law to begin with.

2. Why was he riding around at night on a bicycle?

3. The primary cause of his death was not the arrest – which was probably for violating probation, NOT the marijuana – but was indeed the lack of prompt and efficient medical care in the detention facility.

You want to get up in arms about something? Rally behind the move to privatization of our prison systems and the resulting lack of appropriate staffing to ensure prompt medical treatment.11 Joel · { 08.03.11 at 2:30 pm }
It is a very good article and it make me feel sad despite of the comments made by the four headed prohibitionist.12 AJ · { 08.03.11 at 2:42 pm }
A "years old" arrest for robbery, then getting caught with a small amount of weed. Seems like Mr.Perez has no respect for the law. On a bike with no lights, he could ride up behind someone, whack them on the head, then rob them. The police know this and he was stopped. It's Mr.Perez's fault he went to jail!! Noone elses!! If he obeyed the law, no matter how much he disliked it he would still be alive, most likely! Place the blame of his death where it most matters, on himself!! All his actions up to his death were his choice, noone forced him to ride the bike without lights, noone forced him to carry weed, and noone forced him to do a robbery "years ago"... It was his choice and he made a bunch of bad ones!13 SW · { 08.03.11 at 3:19 pm }
Why was he searched? This was a traffic violation.14 Mark · { 08.03.11 at 7:09 pm }
Those arguments are stupid. If someone handcuffed you to your damn bed, and you died from a medical emergency because you couldn't get to the hospital or call for help, nobody here would disingenuously claim that your death wasn't because of being chained to the bed, and nobody would claim the person who chained you to the bed was not responsible for your death from that medical emergency.

Mr. Perez died because he was locked in a damn cage where nobody bothered to get him any damn medical attention, and the reason he was locked in the cage is because he violated stupid, inherently immoral laws prohibiting marijuana.

Marijuana prohibition lead to this young man's death. Period. The headline is correct, and anybody playing the picky little naysayer is either a supporter of prohibition, or an all-too-common serial complainer within the movement who spends half their damn time whining and finger-wagging at the people who actually get off their @sses to DO something.

A kid is DEAD here, locked up because of personal possession of marijuana, and your response to seeing this is to GRIPE about a damn headline?

And just for the little picky-picky dummies who will still blather on about the headline, the headline says "leads to" which is accurate — it doesn't say "causes," or "as a direct result" or anything else, so if you want to whine and wring your stupid little fingers over the headline (while ignoring the major point about a DAMN KID being dead, which apparently doesn't bother you too much), then you can take the whining and finger-wringing elsewhere because the prohibition of marijuana lead to the kid being locked up, which is why he couldn't get medical care to save his life, so it LEAD TO it.

So shut up already, for Christ's sake.15 maximus ludicrus · { 08.03.11 at 8:38 pm }
The people responsible for this guy's death should be put on trial for involuntary manslaughter or depraved indifference. There is no excuse for locking someone up, then depriving them of necessary medical attention. Someone should be held accountable and their negligence lead directly to the avoidable death of a young man.16 Mark · { 08.04.11 at 6:41 am }
I think Austin #6 makes the best point:

This is a WAR. A WAR in which we, the oppressed, are unarmed.

We have tried peaceful means of obtaining a fair solution. HUGE FAILURE.

We tried spoonfeeding the IGNORANT PROHIBITIONISTS with "medical marijuana". Well it's now been 75 years of prohibition, and the federal government has already stated they will throw medical pot smokers in jail even if they are in compliance with state law. Every person in the governments medical marijuana database is a target for incarceration when some NAZI like Pawlenty or anyone other than Ron Paul or Gary Johnson – they are the only politicians who have stated they will flat out legalize – gets elected by a dedicedly STUPID and EASILY DISTRACTED American population. Medical marijuana while not a failure, is FAR FROM A SUCCESS.

Pot smokers need to GET IN THE FACES of prohibitionists and EMBARASS THEM with their IGNORANCE.

Pot smokers need to COME OUTTA THE CLOSET and start conversations with the people they meet in their everyday lives and TALK ABOUT ENDING PROHIBITION.

I posted here last week about my experience at the Delaware State fair. APPROACH STRANGERS and START A DISCUSSION about LEGALIZATION.

If this is a WAR, then ANYTHING GOES, like Austin said.17 Dan · { 08.04.11 at 7:02 am }
How about he doesn't break the law in the first place and he doesn't end up in a situation like that. Just sayin.18 Kevin B · { 08.04.11 at 8:19 am }
how about the fact that he was stopped & searched because he didn't have a headlight on his bicycle? this whole sad affair begins with that obscenity. i'm fortunate enough to live in nice white america where the neighborhood cop doesn't do that to the neighborhood kid – and knows he wouldn't last long on the job if he did it more than a couple times. here in connecticut, we recently decriminalized marijuana. i was just commenting to a friend yesterday that the greatest immediate outcome of decriminalization is that since it is no longer an arrestable offense, suspicion of possession will no longer provide cause for officers to play out that all too familiar scene of several minority youth splayed out on the curb in handcuffs while their car is torn apart because the officer caught a whif of something.19 Little B · { 08.04.11 at 8:21 am }
I understand the concern that the kid died while in custody for a small possession charge but it doesn't change a damn thing in the pro marijuana argument. This was a failure to provide necessary medical attention by a center. Articles like this do not contribute to our goal of medical marijuana being legalized. If anything it shows that some present partial portrayals of illegitimate arguments. People, if we are going to present valid arguments for pro legislation let's give all of the onfo, not just what provokes stupid arguments.20 Kevin B · { 08.04.11 at 8:23 am }
@ dan – you missed the point. the argument isn't whether or not he broke the law – no one is arguing whether or not he broke an existing law. this article is debating the merits of the law itself & presenting the hypothetical that the young fellow would still be alive today if possession of a small amount of marijuana wasn't an arrestable offense. try another read and see if you catch that nuance.

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