A consumer-conscious Uniontown, Pennsylvania man called local police to complain about the quality of the marijuana he just purchased. When police arrived, the 21-year-old complained that the pot was “nasty.” A field test by the officers revealed the stash was not marijuana at all, but our boy-genius is not off the hook. He could still be charged with possession of a counterfeit controlled substance. No word yet on whether the seller takes returns.
I’ve often wondered why possession of a “counterfeit” controlled substance is a crime at all. Certainly, attempting to sell or selling the counterfeit substance could be punished as criminal fraud, but what is the public policy reason to prevent possession of , say, oregano? Do we want really want to criminalize even more conduct as we fight the Drug War?
— Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Source: AP
Hey ebob, Thankee, I’m just having a kind of lazy Saturday. I watched John Stewart’s closing remarks at the rally and would vote for a candidate that gave that speech. It looked like a really big crowd.
In all seriousness, if the government can make possession of pot, or any drug, illegal, then it can control any aspect of our bodies, provided that it has a rational basis. And, as the lawyers among you know, the courts find rational bases very easily, even coming up with imagined rational bases that the legislature hadn’t contemplated. Thus, the government could ban broccoli because it causes flatulence (and surely it would be rational to want to reduce flatulence); it could ban foods with what it considers excess salt or sugar; and it could even impose requirements on us, such as when to wear a hat outdoors and what to eat for breakfast. You might think that the latter would be unenforceable, but, if a reliable informant told the police that you’ve been eating Fruit Loops every day at 7 a.m., the police could get a warrant and bust in with guns drawn the next morning and catch you in the act. Would that really be any crazier than the status quo with respect to pot?
LK,Henry &PatricParamedic :
The three of you have started my saturday night with a big smile on my face.
PatricParamedic:
“Henry – If not, they could surely come up with a new crime – say, Class C Misdemeanor – attempted purchase of a condiment.”
——
Don’t give them any ideas, as prisons become more and more privatized, for-profit enterprises you can bet that there will be pressure (or other inducements) to get tough on crime and the enforcement of ‘stupid’ laws will increase.
These kinds of laws are entirely punitive and IMO verge on the extra-judicial. They can’t actually bust this fellow for a real crime but they’re going to punish him for something even if it has to be a made-up crime.
“Penn. Judges Get Kickbacks for Placing Youths in Privately Owned Jails”
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/17/penn_judges_plead_guilty_to_taking
J. Brian Harris, Ph.D., P.E.:
“Of course, we need to be very careful in the use of extremely dangerous chemicals. Di-hydrogen monoxide is sometimes fatal, and, in vapor form, is among the “strongest” of the greenhouse gases. People sometimes crave di-hydrogen monoxide…”
—-
Oh man, I’m so busted. I crave the stuff and even bathe in it when I can stockpile enough. 🙂
Henry –
If not, they could surely come up with a new crime – say, Class C Misdemeanor – attempted purchase of a condiment.
What if the police arrest the purchaser in the middle of an apparent pot sale, before the goods change hands, and it turns out that the pot was oregano? Would he be charged with attempted attempted possession?
I’ve often wondered why possession of a “counterfeit” controlled substance is a crime at all.
In this case it’s really akin to attempted possession, which to my mind would be a more appropriate charge.
Buddha –
Wow. Was Jefferson a visionary, or what?
In more & more professions, you either show proof of your annual “flu” vaccine, or you don’t get to work there anymore.
I cannot for the life of me think of anything more insane, than forceably drugging the entire population of healthy people.
The legal drug-rep army is 80,000 strong – a well-equipped battalion of ground troops armed with the deadliest, most effective weapons known to mankind – spray-on tans & the world’s greatest legs. They have their banter down so well they effectively lecture physicians on what the new diseases ought to be. And our doctors buy the spin, hook, line & sinker.
We now live in a true “tail-wagging-the-dog” society, where “you might get sick” has become the disease de jour.
How long before we discover – wonder of wonders – that the process itself is the real disease?
Well, we never really got to the weird science punchine, until the very end of the Twilight Zone. Cue Rod Serling.
Perhaps we need more laws. How about a Federal Statute imposing mandatory summary execution for anyone imputed to be even remotely capable of suicidal ideation? Would that not effectively eradicate the crime of suicide?
I worked at Cook County Hospital, in Chicago, for about twenty years. A bottle of clean water would be labeled as it being a federal crime were the water used by any person without a physician having prescribed it.
Of course, we need to be very careful in the use of extremely dangerous chemicals. Di-hydrogen monoxide is sometimes fatal, and, in vapor form, is among the “strongest” of the greenhouse gases. People sometimes crave di-hydrogen monoxide, and people have been killed over access to allegedly legal di-hydrogen monoxide. Perhaps mono-anhydrous hydronium would be a safer replacement for di-hydrogen monoxide for those addicted to the monoxide?
“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson
I wonder if, sometimes, people do stupid things. I have. Perhaps I am less alone than it often seems to me that I am.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to for a more perfect Union, establish justice, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Oh,oh! The People of the United States are the government, those who work for the People are government employees who may, in their dual role as being of the government and being employed by the government (id est, the People) are vulnerable to a conflict of interest?
Oh, oh! The way to reduce the size of the government, the government being the People, is mass murder? The best way to reduce the size of the government of the United States of America, without malice aforethought, is to increase the population, and thereby the size of the government, until The People become a biological (instead of a social) culture medium which enables a biological virus to which no person has any immunity to develop, thereby reducing the government (id est, the People) to identically 0.000 (repeating decimal) humans?
Isn’t the ability of the People to imagine and implement biologically insane ideas just fantastic? And those of the People who happen to also be government employees or who seek to become government employees seem no better at governing than anyone else?
Government by adamant ignorance and intransigent stupidity? Let us just pass a law which imposes the death penalty for being born, implement it without error, and, finally, We the People will be free at last?
Or, is there some probability that a more humane way will be devised by the government, id est, the People? I am intrigued by the possibility and the chance of its actualization…
Very well put, PatricParamedic…
And god is always on our side!!!!!
Always…
and Jericho,
That is what the professor has been saying too.
Marijuana criminal.
Alcohol perfectly acceptable…
You’re right “duh.”
Do we want really want to criminalize even more conduct as we fight the Drug War?
The word ‘duh’ comes to mind.
Bud –
I could not agree more. Mass communication – modern miracle that it is – is a monstrous double-edged sword for the individual.
One of the most important concepts I ever learned, was that animal societies meld into hierarchies, usually as a matter of survival, early on, just for the common good.
But the dynamic invariably becomes, “get larger, grow bigger, get stronger, grab everything worth anything, killing is good if it helps our side.” (And God is always on our side)
It happened with competing grasshopper tribes in my 10th grade science project. It happens with governments. And in my own area of focus, this rapacious, frenzied energy called ‘health care’ is hell-bent on drugging every living soul into a vapid stupor, where we no longer have the smarts or desire to ask, “but why?”
Somebody smarter than I once said, the bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.
I submit that also goes for our hierarchies, none of which have greater influence than mass communication.
The problem is, few individuals have the wherewithall to mount an effective defense against powers than have had decades to grow stronger hindlegs & jawbones.
Just like our grasshoppers – red vs green – back in 1975.
If the kids from the 60’s and early ’70’s had had the power of the internet and computers …
PatricParamedic,
Religion has always been used to control people. People now question the validity of religion.
Isn’t controlling young people (especially) through television and through entertainment the new religion?
The ONLY reason we have a government is to control us…NOT for us to control it…
Can you imagine the power that young people could have with 21st century computers and skills???
That would terrify the shit out of every politician, and that’s why they work non stop to control us. They are very afraid. Young people are only acceptable if they believe in the powers that control us, Democrat or Republican.
“Do we want really want to criminalize even more conduct as we fight the Drug War?”
Good point. Maybe – had we been adjudicating Felony Stupid all along – perhaps we’d be a bit better off in the evolution of our segment of the species.
Of course, calling these dubious, governmental efforts a “Drug War” allows us to feel pious and above the riff-raff, while we concurrently acquiesce to the legal drug cartels, who test their own products, declare them fit enough for FDA approval, and buy off physicians to market them, in order to run rampant over anything that sneezes.
Does ANYBODY else get even slightly disturbed that 30% of our Girl Scouts under the age of 9, are on prescription drugs?
Yawn. Guess not.
We live in a nation where 19% of graduating high schoolers can’t seem to find the U.S. on a blank world map. But by golly, they know McDonald’s new menu. And thanks to TV, they’ll keep munching away.
Due to our love affair with “fast food” drug commercials, “nasty” marijuana will soon be a thing of the past. In the not too distant future, we’ll be treated to the incessant advantage of the finest, purest, tastiest pot on the planet. How cool is that?
And just like cattle with their heads beneath the guillotine, we’ll keep munching away . . . because that’s what cattle do.
Buyer’s remorse? All he has to do is give up the name of his supplier …