Remember that rape victim who couldnt be helped due to cuts?

[Genx87]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/29/priorities_0_n_3353199.html

Well it turns out they have plenty of resources to keep the reefer madness in check. Priorities in this country. Help rape victims or track down people voluntarily consuming a product?

 

[waggy]

ugh. thats fucking insane but not a surprise.

 

[xj0hnx]

That and policies like drug-related asset forfeiture skew local police agencies to make drug investigations a far higher priority than they otherwise would. There's just much more money to be had for drug arrests.

There's your answer, and a big reason why drugs, even pot, are still illegal in most places. Between federal funding, asset forfeiture, and the prison industrial complex, there is BIG money to be made keeping drugs illegal, and diverting resource to fighting the evils of drug use. There's just no money to be made of a rape victim.

 

[dank69]

I don't see anything stating that those busts happened after hours.

 

[Theb]

"Medical marijuana is a joke," said Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson in an interview with the Mail Tribune. "The amount of people who have those cards is ludicrous. My understanding is that only about four percent of the cardholders have legitimate ailments.

"This is creating a nightmare for law enforcement," he added. "Who is going to knock on all those doors to check if they are legal? It would take several full-time deputies just to do the checks. We don't have the resources for that."

OMG OMG OMG. People might do things in the privacy of their homes that the sheriff wouldn't know about.

We should disband the program and give the current patients harmless, unabusable Oxycontin instead.

 

[Jimzz]

One of the comments I think agrees with some here and nails it...

"Not to freak you out, but this is a common issue with a simple cause. See when a cop arrests someone for say RAPE they don't get to take that person home, car and bank account. When they arrest someone for pot, they do get to take that persons home, car and bank account."


i.e. No money catching a rapist, but plenty in stopping billy from smoking a joint in his house.

 

[momeNt]

The police is not in the business of personal protection. You either have to look towards yourself or close family for protection, or hire a private security agency whose mission statement is aligned with your needs.

 

[BoberFett]

Disgusting, but not surprising. Big federal government is out-of-control federal government. Progressive cries of "But we just need GOOD big government" are simply naive.

 

[BoberFett]

I don't see anything stating that those busts happened after hours.

Typical "liberal" idiot. You don't think the budget for paying police could be reallocated so that those daytime busts pay for overnight coverage instead?

 

[Incorruptible]

Just another reason we need small government restrained by the Constitution.

 

[Sonikku]

Outrage not found. The female body has all kinds of mechanisms to shut all that stuff down in cases of a non legitimate rape. Illegal Marijuana on the other hand isn't being taxed and aren't doing any of us any good.

 

[mect]

While I am in favor of generally smaller government, I fail to see how a smaller government would fix poor allocation of resources at the local level. The local government had no obligation to participate in the federal drug program. So yes, while that federal program is stupid, it is not to blame for this fiasco. This lies solely on the head of the local sheriff, who appears to have a pretty significant anti-drug agenda.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

There's your answer, and a big reason why drugs, even pot, are still illegal in most places. Between federal funding, asset forfeiture, and the prison industrial complex, there is BIG money to be made keeping drugs illegal, and diverting resource to fighting the evils of drug use. There's just no money to be made of a rape victim.

Money as in taxes to be levied to fund the "War on Drugs" all the government agencies, departments, and their private sector suppliers who depend on these tax dollars being funneled to them. This isn't even including the campaign raising dollars that would be lost by politicians in general.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

While I am in favor of generally smaller government, I fail to see how a smaller government would fix poor allocation of resources at the local level. The local government had no obligation to participate in the federal drug program. So yes, while that federal program is stupid, it is not to blame for this fiasco. This lies solely on the head of the local sheriff, who appears to have a pretty significant anti-drug agenda.

You're right to an extent however the issue is magnified and made relevant when the Federal government or State government steers additional funds to these local municipalities to continue local voluntary cooperation and compliance with such programs. Hence without that additional federal or state revenue support being willingly offered (without much oversight it seems) this bungling Sheriff wouldn't have the ability to continue wasting taxpayer dollars.

 

[werepossum]

One of the comments I think agrees with some here and nails it...

"Not to freak you out, but this is a common issue with a simple cause. See when a cop arrests someone for say RAPE they don't get to take that person home, car and bank account. When they arrest someone for pot, they do get to take that persons home, car and bank account."


i.e. No money catching a rapist, but plenty in stopping billy from smoking a joint in his house.

Exactly.

 

[dank69]

Disgusting, but not surprising. Big federal government is out-of-control federal government. Progressive cries of "But we just need GOOD big government" are simply naive.

Typical "independent" non-thinker. Rails against big federal government in a thread about local government.

 

[werepossum]

Typical "independent" non-thinker. Rails against big federal government in a thread about local government.

In this context local government functions as a component of a big federal government. Big federal government passes laws that incentivize local government to prosecute drug laws at the expense of murder, rape and robbery by making drug law enforcement highly lucrative for local government. Thus a police chief or sheriff who refuses to selectively enforce drug laws in preference to other laws will tend to be replaced by one who will do so, thereby enriching the municipality and incidentally doing the big federal government's will. Reduced enforcement of other laws will also be used by those same politicians are justification for demanding higher taxation.

In other words, non-thinking not found in BoberFett's post.

 

[woolfe9998]

I thought there was a pending bill in Oregon to totally de-criminalize pot. If they are not responding to 911 calls for home invasions, it can't come soon enough.

 

[BoberFett]

Typical "independent" non-thinker. Rails against big federal government in a thread about local government.

Federal drugs laws are local? Fuck, you're reaching new levels of stupidity.

 

[werepossum]

I thought there was a pending bill in Oregon to totally de-criminalize pot. If they are not responding to 911 calls for home invasions, it can't come soon enough.

We just have to adjust to the times. If you call 9-1-1 and say "Help me, someone is breaking into my home" you're boned. Instead, you should call 9-1-1 and say "Help me, I believe I have illegal drugs in my very nice house and probably also in my sports car that all the young girls love, but I'll come to my senses and destroy the evidence if you aren't here in five minutes."

 

[AreaCode707]

This type of story could be told about my own county (though that 911 operator is an idiot.)

We've got increasing problems with gang-based MJ production in a massive commercial scale. We've also got pretty harmless mom and pop medical growers and personal growers. Our Sheriff is pretty awesome at making the distinction between the real trouble and the harmless. The gang growers have made areas in the town seriously unsafe, they shoot at firefighters out in the national forests who are just trying to contain lightening-strike fires, they pollute, they drain the local economy, they attract a lot of seriously problematic people who show up as seasonal pickers for the high pay...

And still the mom and pop growers don't like law enforcement because they're afraid, so they vote the budget down. We've got two cars on the midnight to 4am shift to cover about half the county, because they can't afford more.

So yeah, the sheriff may spend all day busting pot growers and then get a call at 2am and not have a car within an hour of the caller...

Not saying that's the case here but I can completely see this same thing appearing to happen in my area.

If you're going to toke, buy local! Stop buying our weed; funding these illegal operations ruins our county (plus you don't even want to know what they're spraying those plants with.)