Brickbat: Professional Courtesy

Former Elizabeth Borough, Pennsylvania, police chief Tim Butler was sentenced to 55 months probation and 325 hours of community service after pleading guilty to obstructing the administration of law, possession of drugs, and two counts of theft. Butler stole heroin from the police evidence room. The judge in the case decided not to sentence Butler to prison, saying Butler had an addiction.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know when they say legalizing drugs doesn't mean we're going to also legalize bad acts like theft made in pursuit of the fix? Allegheny County apparently has something else in mind.

[Adans smith]

Well, you can't buy a drink in your state , what do you expect a guy to do?

[punich]

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[Inigo Montoya]

I doubt the judge is an advocate of drug legalization. He is a big advocate of cop sucking, however.

[Vernon Depner]

Look at the bright side—maybe someone charged with heroin possession got off because Chief Junkie shot up the evidence.

[Cyto]

We keep talking about "ending the war on drugs" and legalizing or decriminalizing drugs...

What we really need to talk about is removing the legal aversion to getting high. That is the root of the entire problem.

If you could sell a drug that is explicitly and only for getting high, then drug companies could focus on making that objective safe and effective. Currently, most things that make you high have negative side-effects... things like addiction, lung damage, liver damage, etc. And they often have effects that either last too long or are difficult to properly dose, leading to things like drunk driving and overdose.

But a properly designed commercial product would be safer and more effective. Easy dose control, like smoking weed or sipping a beer, combined with limited time activity or easy counteraction to turn it off. No more drunk driving, and product liability would help them focus on eliminating liver damage.

Instead we have pharma companies focusing on figuring out how to make pain relievers that mitigate the euphoric side effects and contaminate them with dangerous alterants to prevent abuse. Pretty much exactly the opposite of what we should really want.

[GroundTruth]

That's fine, but once you have this wonderdrug, what are you going to do about all of the users (they won't be "abusers" because they will be using it as intended) who spend 100 % of their life getting high? Personally, I'm fine if they starve to death while high, but I suspect that there will be a sizeable group (majority even) who feel some need to provide free food, shelter and clothing to these people. And those people are going to force me to help pay for the support of the wonderdrug users.

Just saying, you gotta consider all of the results, and not just the first order effects.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

No, you don't. Liberty is the goal, not justified-by-you-and-other-nannies faux-liberty.

[Rossami]

Feeling high does not necessarily interfere with your ability to feed and clothe yourself - or even from the ability to hold down a productive job. Lots of people like to feel good by snuggling in plush blankets and soft clothes. Some do it close to 100% of the time. Okay, you probably can't be a fireman if you have that particular addiction. By the same token, someone who wants to stay high all the time will be locked out of certain jobs but others will still be possible. Giving people a new way to self-pleasure does not require us to abandon the concept of personal responsibility.

[Finrod]

Well said.

[fafalone]

The same thing you do now with the vast majority of people for whom legality doesn't stop them, and the multitudes already on legal alcohol where an addiction is every bit as debilitating as any illegal drug?

[Don't look at me!]

Opium dens for the win!

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

The judge in the case decided not to sentence Butler to prison, saying Butler had an addiction.

I have no doubt this judge is entirely consistent when other defendants appear before his bench under the exact same situation.