March 17, 2010

Drugs and violence.

The drug: medical marijuana.
In the past week, a man in Orting, Wash., near Tacoma, died after he reportedly was beaten while confronting people trying to steal marijuana plants from his property. On Monday, a prominent medical-marijuana activist shot an armed man who is accused of breaking into his home in a suburban area near Seattle where he grows and distributes marijuana plants....

In both cases... the victims appear to have been chosen because they were known to have relatively large amounts of marijuana in their homes....

12 comments:

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

They're farmers and that's a valuable crop, probably their very livelihood. I can imagine a modern western based on those farmers with a stoned John Wayne with his Winchester fighting to defend his fine skunky buds from the outlaws.

ricpic said...

Reefer madness!

George Grady said...

These consequences of legalized marijuana are unintended, so they don't count.

Unknown said...

News at eleven - criminals target people with goods. Or, to paraphrase George - The consequences of owning property are unintended, so they don't count.

PoNyman said...

Imagine 1933 with the weird half-measures we have in place on marijuana now, but replace it with alcohol.

In the past week, a man in Orting, Wash., near Tacoma, died after he reportedly was beaten while confronting people trying to steal alcohol from his property. On Monday, a prominent alcohol activist shot an armed man who is accused of breaking into his home in a suburban area near Seattle where he distills and distributes alcohol....

In both cases... the victims appear to have been chosen because they were known to have relatively large amounts of alcohol in their homes....

TMink said...

Sixty, the Zulu warriors used to toke up before going into battle with the British. They would tie their spear to their hand so that they would not drop it while butchering the better armed British.

Trey

Sydney said...

Well, there goes my plan for surviving Obamacare. Too dangerous.

Michael McNeil said...

As PoNyman's analogy alluded, I attribute this to the present twilight situation where marijuana is only half legalized (and only for those who have obtained a physicians' recommendation) while the black market distribution channels and violent gang involvement is still very much active. It is much like the Prohibition era in this regard, and thus has nothing to do with whether “stoners are totally nonviolent.” Actually, while many stoners are nonviolent, I suspect that a goodly number of others are not — based on the subculture they're associated with; I understand that Hell's Angels smoke quite a bit of weed, for instance. But, as I say, it really doesn't matter whether they are or not; the gangs and other violent types are intimately involved in the black market — because it's illegal, not as a result of any particular character of the drug.

Synova said...

Duh.

Put a sign up at your house saying you stockpile Codine and you'll get robbed, too.

Put a sign up saying you stockpile pseudophed and they won't just rob you.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

This just in...

An association has been noted between large vaults of money and violence. A study is expected that will soon confirm the feasibility of closing all banks currently in existence.

kentuckyliz said...

Wow, those poor suffering cancer patients are some bad gangsta muthas. They'll pop a cap in yo azz.

When an obituary indicates someone died of cancer, you have to have people at the house during the funeral because druggies will break in looking for drugs.