$20,000 Bond for One Ecstasy Pill
As I read through my Google News alerts each day, I usually just ignore the multitudes of petty drug arrests that made headlines for no reason. But this one jumped out at me:
Police: Winston-Salem man had ecstasy pill
Gastonia Police arrested a Winston-Salem man Saturday and charged him with having the party drug ecstasy.
Jasmon Delshon Mackey, 27, of the 2200 block of Bethabara Point in Winston-Salem, was arrested at the Kingsway convenience store at 1418 W. Garrison Blvd. He had one ecstasy pill, according to a police affidavit. [Gaston Gazette]
Who cares? Why is this in the newspaper? It shouldn’t even be a crime, but if it is, one would hope you’d have to have more than, say, one pill in order to find your name in the f#%king newspaper.
The only thing newsworthy about this is the embarrassing fact that possession of one ecstasy pill is apparently a serious crime that can only be resolved by a whole team of criminal justice professionals.
Mackey was charged with felony possession of a Schedule I controlled substance. He was jailed on a $20,000 bond.
For having a pill whose side effects include happiness, empathy, and dancing.
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Amazing how some of the most egregious jurisdictions are so egregious regarding their bad karma of favoring addiction, disease and death when it comes from their favored agricultural commodity.
Enforce the Constitution
Comment posted by Anonymous on Mon, 09/01/2008 - 11:44pm"Mackey was charged with felony possession of a Schedule I controlled substance. He was jailed on a $20,000 bond."
---
White House "change" ought to mean an executive order shutting these rouge/apostate courts down and a military tribunal to prosecute the judges/magistrates/prosecutors with criminally subverting the U.S. Constitution, aka 1st, 4th, 8th, 9th Amendments.
Here's some common sense on what a broad swath of the judiciary needs:
http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2008/08/judge-dj-young-belo...
I think the Charge was Too Harsh But
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 09/02/2008 - 10:06amWhile I think the change was a bit too harsh and didn't need any new media attention in the newspaper I do applaud the efforts of police in showing a zero tolerance to drugs, one pill may be just one pill but it only takes 1 pill to kill someone if you drive under the influence.
A tool
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 09/02/2008 - 11:13amYeah because zero tolerance on drugs has really deterred anyone from using them in over 70+ years of prohibition. Wake up and smell the roses, you're a tool of the establishment!
The cluelessness is stunning
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 09/02/2008 - 7:46pmGo visit a county lock-up in an American city. Fear, violence, race-based gangs, predation and mental illness are the norms.
We cannot continue locking people away for drug offenses. The blow back is destroying us.
Where does it say this guy
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 10:48amWhere does it say this guy was even driving? And even if he was - where does it say that he intended to do so under the influence of the drug!? Pehaps he was just getting bread and milk on his way home before he consumed the pill in the privacy of his own home!! What a rash and absolutely unqualified assumption to make and a judgement on this individual's morals and motives because, what - "he's a drug user, therefore he's going to mow down kids under the influence"
Should we start arresting people coming out of liqour stores with their purchases - just in case they drove to the store!? Obviously - as drug users - they would consume the liqour the second they stepped outside the store... People just cannot wait to take their drug of choice and drive!
You make me angry. Stop judging people and start being reasonable about drug policy.
For the Law
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 09/02/2008 - 11:24amThe number of ecstasy is not important. Arrested that man who only has one ecstasy will make other think twice for having ecstasy.
Billy Swordman
Save your anecdote
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 9:51amMr. Swordman,
Perhaps you were sick the day your professor covered this notion in Criminal Justice 101 -- check the studies...drug laws are simply not shown to be effective at deterring drug use. Essentially, people do not believe they will get caught. The severity of the law has no statistical effect on use rates. Comments like yours are simply ignorant of the facts and do not reflect reality. People involved in this forum are light years ahead of you...
*laughs* What an nonsensical
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 10:51am*laughs* What an nonsensical comment. Did you know that millions of ecstasy pills are consumed every weekend!? I'm pretty sure that's not going to stop now because someone was caught with "one pill".
Is it not obvious to you that this simply drives its use further underground?! People will ALWAYS take ecstasy. People may be more cautious now - but that's it!
For the Constitution; Against Legislative-Prosecutorial Crime
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 09/02/2008 - 5:59pmPerhaps a righteous future government will render justice to the criminals who passed and enforced such laws.
Too bad there is probably no way to apply a special tax to the dopes who supported such "law".
Makes me sad
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 10:58am"For having a pill whose side effects include happiness, empathy, and dancing."
Ecstasy (if you actually get MDMA) is a wonderful drug. Its users are usually some of the most law abiding and decent people our society has to offer. Making these people criminals for altering their state of mind temporarily is simply abhorent. It makes me sad that our government and police force (not all of them!) are out to demonise decent people.
Legalize drugs. Make them available safely to the millions of users. Educate people on the safe use of their drug of choice. Tax it, and use those funds to support better healthcare and recovery programs. Prosecute those who behave irresponsibly or innapropriately - for example, driving under the influence - just as we do with other legal drugs. This is the ONLY sensible step forwards.
Change is coming!
All honor to the Gastonia police
Comment posted by Anonymous on Mon, 09/01/2008 - 9:37pmfor understanding so well that possession of a ecstasy pill is a far more dangerous crime than driving drunk. Thank goodness for these clear eyed folks who know real danger when they see it. Reward yourself with some well earned drinks, guys.