Vegas Free-for-All - A Disturbance in Baltimore

Tutontow

Apr 29, 2015
8:08am

Quote

Originally posted by: jphelan

Quote
Originally posted by: alanleroy
Quote
Originally posted by: Boilerman

Legalize pot and the gangs will move on to selling cocaine, meth, and heroin. Per a recent HBO Real Sports episode, the largest growth sector in Heroin use is athletes who move on to heroin from prescription pain pills because on the street the pills cost $35 per pill while heroin is $3 to $5 per bag. So many lives ruined and no easy answers.

Yes and no. There is no correlation between using pot and moving on to harder drugs. Just like many people who drink alcohol never move on to pot.

Saying pot leads to harder drugs is like saying riding a bicycle leads to being a Hells Angel.

I'm willing to bet most coke users started with pot just like most Hells Angels rode bicycles but one doesn't cause the other.

Now for the yes part. You are 100% on it about the pain pills. I saw it first hand as a first responder and with a family member. They get a script for Oxy for a legitimate injury and when the script runs out they are hooked and switch to Heroin because they can't afford Oxy on the street.

I can't imagine why Oxy is legal and pot is not other than the fact big pharma can't make any money off of pot.

chefantwon

Apr 29, 2015
9:08am

Block User

At some point the laws of this country needs to be enforced. I am a little tired of hearing about the prison population being excessive. Build more prisons and enforce the freaking law. If you are going to selectively enforce laws, then they need to be repealed and be done with it.

These looters should be arrested and forced to pay for what they have taken AND be used as free labor to repair the stores they damaged.

O2bnVegas

Apr 29, 2015
9:45am

Block User

Quote

Originally posted by: chefantwon
At some point the laws of this country needs to be enforced. I am a little tired of hearing about the prison population being excessive. Build more prisons and enforce the freaking law. If you are going to selectively enforce laws, then they need to be repealed and be done with it.

These looters should be arrested and forced to pay for what they have taken AND be used as free labor to repair the stores they damaged.

Ditto. It won't happen, but I would vote for it.
And they need to round up the "professional rioters/looters" who are going from city to city to incite riots and show them up for the scum that they are. I'm sure they are getting compensated in some way.

Boilerman

Apr 29, 2015
10:18am

Block User

I used to live in Cincinnati, and I didn't know the Finnytown pringles street story until DD informed me today. Coincidentally, P&G used to be a large customer of mine, and Kellogg (current Pringles producer) is my largest customer. Go Pringeles!

go

Quote

Originally posted by: jatki99
(BTW, who ever invented the word "pringles?")

"Pringles' name is every bit as synthetic as the product in their tubes. When Procter & Gamble introduced the chips in 1968, they needed a name, and the company wanted one that started with a "P."? According to P&G, a brand manager broke out the Cincinnati phone book and made a list of street names that began with the letter. The company liked the ring of Pringle Drive in suburban Finneytown, OH, and since the word was available as a trademark, the chips found their name."
Ref: mentalfloss.com

forkushV

Apr 29, 2015
11:29am

Block User

Quote

Originally posted by: chefantwon
At some point the laws of this country needs to be enforced...

Except Cliven Bundy, right? Because freedom.

And can we please start jailing cops who racially profile?

jphelan

Apr 29, 2015
1:02pm

Block User

I get that Pot possession should be decriminalized -- with a fine instead of jail time -- or even legalized if the State so chooses.

However, sales of Illegal drugs is another issue....this is the root of the evil. Even if pot is legalized, people will be selling meth, crack, and heroin. Possession over a "reasonable" amount can only be someone distributing and they should be imprisoned for a LONG time.

I don't have the statistics, but I suspect a high % of the people incarcerated for drugs are there for possession with intent to distribute --- and they belong in prison. Selling drugs to addicts who overdose and die IS a violent crime and should be punished accordingly IMHO.

I would let all the "pot" offenders go free tomorrow --- IF we were tougher on people distributing hard drugs.

malibber2

Apr 29, 2015
2:05pm

Block User

No offense but most of you guys don't know squat about the criminal justice system. We now have what is known as a private for profit prison system. In the typical contract a state agrees to provide the for profit prison so many prisoners guaranteeing them a profit. It doesn't matter if crime drops 50% the state still has to fill those prisons. The same companies that own the for profit prisons lobby state legislatures to increase penalties for relatively minor criminal offenses and various zero tolerance schemes so they can build more of these for profit prisons.

For example my beloved Governor Pence recently increased the penalties for small amounts of pot possession so he can fill his new private prison built by one of his top political donors. The state guarantees them a 90% occupancy rate regardless of the actual crime rate.
See crime does pay.

Quote

Originally posted by: jphelan
I get that Pot possession should be decriminalized -- with a fine instead of jail time -- or even legalized if the State so chooses.

However, sales of Illegal drugs is another issue....this is the root of the evil. Even if pot is legalized, people will be selling meth, crack, and heroin. Possession over a "reasonable" amount can only be someone distributing and they should be imprisoned for a LONG time.

I don't have the statistics, but I suspect a high % of the people incarcerated for drugs are there for possession with intent to distribute --- and they belong in prison. Selling drugs to addicts who overdose and die IS a violent crime and should be punished accordingly IMHO.

I would let all the "pot" offenders go free tomorrow --- IF we were tougher on people distributing hard drugs.

jatki

Apr 29, 2015
7:35pm

Block User

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/baltimore-unrest/baltimore-police-wont-make-report-freddie-grays-death-public-n350846

I imgine this isn't going to sit very well. Why in the world would they do this with the city on edge as it is.

Baltimore Police Won't Make Report on Freddie Gray's Death Public

"Baltimore police said Wednesday that their internal report into the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man who died in police custody this month, wouldn't be made public.

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts had set a deadline of Friday to file the report with state investigators, leading to hopes among activists and Gray's family that more details of his death from a spinal injury would emerge. Investigators haven't said how Gray was injured.

Baltimore police Capt. Eric Kowalczyk said Wednesday night that the report would remain sealed to protect the integrity of the inquiry. He said Batts' deadline was his way of "saying we were going to move with a sense of urgency..."

hoops2

Apr 29, 2015
8:49pm

Block User

Prior to this incident there we're 63 murders in Baltimore ( one of the highest rates in the country). 56 of those murders were blacks. There were no protests or riots over these murders. This is what the black community should focus on (without rioting).

Boilerman

Apr 29, 2015
9:27pm

Block User

That was not my post.

Quote

Originally posted by: Tutontow

Quote
Originally posted by: jphelan
Quote
Originally posted by: alanleroy
Quote
Originally posted by: Boilerman

Legalize pot and the gangs will move on to selling cocaine, meth, and heroin. Per a recent HBO Real Sports episode, the largest growth sector in Heroin use is athletes who move on to heroin from prescription pain pills because on the street the pills cost $35 per pill while heroin is $3 to $5 per bag. So many lives ruined and no easy answers.

Yes and no. There is no correlation between using pot and moving on to harder drugs. Just like many people who drink alcohol never move on to pot.

Saying pot leads to harder drugs is like saying riding a bicycle leads to being a Hells Angel.

I'm willing to bet most coke users started with pot just like most Hells Angels rode bicycles but one doesn't cause the other.

Now for the yes part. You are 100% on it about the pain pills. I saw it first hand as a first responder and with a family member. They get a script for Oxy for a legitimate injury and when the script runs out they are hooked and switch to Heroin because they can't afford Oxy on the street.

I can't imagine why Oxy is legal and pot is not other than the fact big pharma can't make any money off of pot.

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