General Interest > Tacitus' Realm

Marijuana Prohibition Leads to Death of Young Man

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Ursus:
Comments left for the above blog entry, "Marijuana Prohibition Leads to Death of Young Man" (by Robert Capecchi; August 3, 2011; MPP blog), #s 41-60:


41 Peter Egan · { 08.04.11 at 12:10 pm }
The BIG Law Enforcement industry will never allow marijuana to be decriminalized. It's way too profitable to arrest non-violent "offenders", lock them up and shake them down if they want to get out of jail.

It's all one big criminal racket. The lawyers, judges, cops and prisons are the biggest criminals in American society today. They are the ones who tear apart families and kill people for no reason other than that it is profitable to do so.42 Joel · { 08.04.11 at 12:10 pm }
I agree with Frank @ 39, and I too retract my previous post.
There were more information on the original article.
Providing emergency care to people behind bars is very costly and negligence are very common because of that. It is getting worse.
Federal marijuana prohibition laws are the major problem.
Eric Perez is a victim of bad marijuana laws. What would happen if he was caught with just cigarettes?43 JohnInOhio · { 08.04.11 at 12:15 pm }
Whether or not the Marijuana laws were to blame for this young man's death is a moot point we can debate endlessly. The fact is that his death is a Criminal Justice issue and the Drug War, the Private Prison Industry, Racial Disparity in the enforcement of laws and the court system are also Criminal Justice issues.

The legalization of Marijuana is a much deeper issue than that of availability of a medicine to sick people and freedom of individuals to use a substance if they want to. Marijuana Prohibition is a tool made available to virtually anyone that wants a way to hurt someone for being black, different, ugly, too smart, not smart enough, etc. and a tool that should not even exist.

Sure, this kid was violating probation, but the fact that he made a mistake mean that he is no longer allowed to enjoy life or make anymore mistakes? Should police be allowed to let him die in his cell because he had the audacity to be a kid on a bike and smoke some grass after having gotten in trouble? What is wrong with people that makes them think punishment is more important than compassion or just plain human decency?

I never thought I'd say this in a forum on this site, but there are a lot of people posting here that would probably have smoked a joint while watching a "witch" burned for having pot without some priests permission back in the Golden age of authoritarianism.

Maybe this story would play better on a an ACLU or Amnesty International web site and maybe that's where it should be. But, as a group you people are being subjected to some of the most far reaching, inescapable, and unfair treatment in history; it seems to me more of you would be able to empathize with someone that lost their life over a set of really stupid circumstances that should not have been able to exist in the first place.44 Jeff · { 08.04.11 at 12:24 pm }
I do support legalization of marijuana and find the story sad. However the writer neglected to tells us what the medical emergency really was the the young man died from. Depending on what that was time may have only been a matter of seconds, minutes, or hours til his death. It was bullshit that he was arrested for a little bit of m.j. but being arrested was not what killed him.45 Ricky · { 08.04.11 at 1:12 pm }
Hello, did anyone read post #40 and do it? Then why complain?46 Florida Teen Dies in Jail After Being Arrested for Marijuana | Care2 Causes · { 08.04.11 at 1:38 pm }
[...] [...]47 BG · { 08.04.11 at 2:14 pm }
This doesn't surprise me. My wife's aunt used to work as a detention officer and just 2 days ago she said that the very first thing they had classes to teach detention officers was to be mean, calloused, and cold! The laws say innocent until proven guilty, but we all know that in the "police state" in which we live policemen treat you as guilty until proven innocent.

We are rolling down hill like a snowball headed for hell!48 David · { 08.04.11 at 3:32 pm }
We should all take a close look at this.These's kind of stories really do make me sad.Please note there are people out in the world that should not use drug's.But pot is silly,can we afford to contine Harry Andslingers belief that pot is dangerous.Tragically another young soul got cut down in his prime over a plant.I hate hearing stories like this.The police need to start using there own discration when it comes down to pedially case's involving small amounts of pot.Better yet,make it legal.Watch the drug cartel's scramble like mice hiding under neath a piece of trash.It comes down to the men in blue.Let's go after real criminal's there's plenty of them.49 wethecom · { 08.04.11 at 3:58 pm }
i think this is valid to the cause by pointing out the faults of the system-a system were neglect lead to his death
"retched cry's" as in asking for help and having the ability to ask for help and neglected this is a fault in the system a system he should never been put in in the first place-on his own he had the ability to seek help-how is this not murder.if i held you captive for what i thought was right and you died in my care ,even if it was a legal citizens arrest i would be up for murder charges.this is about accountability and victimless crimes50 G. Freeman Brown · { 08.04.11 at 4:00 pm }
I think Kevin B. (comment 18) makes the strongest point, and much more effectively than this article actually. Anyone who doesn't see that is just being supercilious and obtuse. I have two teenage daughters who have made their share of impulsive mistakes and I don't live in a safe white neighborhood. I am much more afraid for their safety if they were ever arrested than I am about them smoking pot. Marijuana criminalization manifests distrust of law enforcement and civil authority in general, which is a tragedy because in my neighborhood we could use some good cops.51 Ricky · { 08.04.11 at 4:10 pm }
Google MPP...Select MPP Home, Then select Barney Frank, Ron Paul propose legislature that would end federal Marijuana prohibition. There is a letter to urge your legislators check it out if you're serious!52 Ricky · { 08.04.11 at 4:14 pm }
Google MPP...Select MPP Home, select Barney Frank, Ron Paul propose legislature that would end federal Marijuana prohibition. There is a letter to urge your legislators to cosponsor the bill! Check it out if you're serious!
That's my last post, thank you.53 Steve · { 08.04.11 at 5:20 pm }
Marijuana is and should remain illegal. The man was on prohibition and was arrested for violation of those conditions.
Nowhere was it mentioned what he died of...
Of coarse 'maybe' swallowing a fistful of bags of crack didn't help his condition... Or should we now consider legalizing crack cocaine.

Rest his soul.54 Tom M · { 08.04.11 at 5:26 pm }
He had been convicted of robery a year before. He wasn't knew then to the legal system or the slammer. Being on probation one might be very correct in supposing that regardless of the legality of pot, it is a violation of his probation for "robbery". He wouldn't be in compliane if he had pot or alcohol or meth, regardless of the legalities involved as per individual choices.
That big ego chip that told him he could rob and that he could smoke pot, that he could ride a bike regardless of regulations.
His big ego even allowed him to stupidly think he was healthwise bullet proof. His ego hung him.55 ohhaiderr · { 08.04.11 at 7:03 pm }
I'd like to emphasize one part of the story where it states that the arrest was made due to him being on probation. Violation of Probation is a very serious offense. Who is stupid enough to go "Well I'm on probation, but I'm sure nothing bad with happen if I get caught with a substance considered illegal by the same institution that has me on probation for a criminal act..."56 1981 Film Rollover | robwerks.com · { 08.04.11 at 10:09 pm }
[...] http://blog.mpp.org/prohibition/marijua ... /08032011/ [...][/list]
57 randy · { 08.04.11 at 10:55 pm }
This story has been twisted by mpp seems they do that alot i dont think its right the weed had nothing to do with his death it all comes down to the corrections centers not giving a crap about the people they are being paid to take care of hey criminals are people too the staff of this place should be tried for murder but im sure nothing will happen thanks uncle sam!58 seabourne · { 08.05.11 at 7:57 am }
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59 sfinley · { 08.05.11 at 10:05 am }
Sounds to me like the reason the kid went to jail may have been the fact that he had robbed somebody. At the very least, the police certainly found out about the other offenses only because he was riding without a light. So you've got three offenses–robbery, weed, and unsafe operation of the bike.

Those are the reasons he was in jail. He broke the law, at least three times. You can be in favor of legalization and still not advocate breaking the law. You can make a case that there's nothing immoral about smoking weed, however illegal it is (I pretty much agree), and that there's nothing immoral about riding a bike at night without a light (probably not, but it was stupid and could've caused an accident, injuries, and/or death). But robbery? That's not some benign decriminalization kinda thing. So the kid broke the law, with offenses ranging from the serious to the technical.

The reason he died in jail was the failure of the jail staff. Period. Not marijuana laws, not mean policemen. Bad staff. What were the police supposed to do, ignore the law? Ignore the probation? What?

In addition, if this was a private detention facility, all the motives are wrong. This is a growing threat that few people know about. Private detention is for profit; profit dictates that you cut costs anywhere and everywhere you can, including fewer monitoring devices, fewer staff, less-qualified staff, you name it.

If you want to lay blame somewhere for the fact that he was jailed, lay it on the kid himself. You don't have to break the law because you disagree with it. You can become part of a movement to change it, and obey it until it's changed. You also don't have to rob somebody or break other laws.

If you want to lay blame for the death somewhere, lay it on the staff and/or protocols at the jail–and if that was a private facility, lay it on the legislators who allow this abomination that has no obligation whatsoever to the public interest, but only to profit.

I happen to be for legalization, too, and I'm terribly sorry for the kid and his family. I'm just saying, there's more to the situation than fits your agenda.60 sfinley · { 08.05.11 at 10:11 am }
Randy–

I'll bet five bucks this had nothing to do with "Uncle Sam." This was either a city or county facility, probably not a state facility, and almost 100% certainly not a U.S. government facility.

In fact, I'll bet there's at least a 30% chance it was a private, for-profit jail. (See earlier comment.) These things are an intolerable cancer.

You want to blame somebody, blame politicians (especially, but not always, Republicans) who run on "all taxes are bad" mythology (and thereby underfund jails) or "privatize everything because government sucks" mythology (and thereby turn over legitimate government functions to private corporations who have no obligation to the public interest at all, whose only concern is profit–which means they'll get by with the lowest level of staffing and security they possibly can).

Nix that, actually: Blame the PEOPLE who vote for politicians like that and who give them a receptive audience, who indulge themselves in the myth of government-for-nothing. If there were no audience for this nonsense, politicians wouldn't be able to use these kinds of appeals. Collectively, we get exactly the government we deserve–and most of them have learned that the something-for-nothing appeal is just like candy with crack in it.
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