This Is Why the Drug War Works

Hello, harmless law-abiding pot farmer:

Kevin Neal did a little rampage in NorCal. This pothead with a history of mental illness killed some people while out on bail for knifing a neighbor because he thought the fumes from the neighbor’s meth cooking were making his nine dogs crazy. Something like that.

Inevitably, pundits are complaining that somebody should’ve been able to do something before the killing spree happened. Same pundits want marijuana legalized because it’s a victimless crime. This is cause and effect.

Proving that somebody is a murderous sociopath or even just a burglar is difficult. Proving that somebody has a dime bag of weed is so easy, a puppy can do it. The trick is that these two perps are in fact the same perp. Thugs and lowlifes do what they do because they want to live the good life with no care about the long-term consequences. ‘Recreational’ drug users also want to live the good life with no care about the long-term consequences. It’s the same mentality. Without drug prosecutions, enforcing law & order over as much human trash as occupies the USA would require an impossible amount of money and man-hours.

This is also why police pull you over for not wearing a seat belt. Law-Abiding Larry will buckle up simply because it’s the law. Crooks don’t care about buckling up any more than they care about not vandalizing property. Go after the seat belt scofflaws and petty crime goes down at the same time.

But here’s the rub: charging a crook with a drug crime because it’s easier to prove than a property or violent crime means the crook has a nonviolent criminal record even though he’s suspected (or even known) to be a violent threat. It’s a question of what’s easier to prosecute. Remember that the next time someone tells you that drug offenses are nonviolent. That’s because the police arrested them before the violence happened and/or because the DA was overworked and focused on the most easily provable crime.

Neal was able to graduate into multiple homicide because California gov’t thinks growing pot is a victimless crime. Well, Sacramento, here are the victims. Don’t look so surprised; every cop in Tehama County could’ve told you this was coming.