What's wrong with this picture?
So here's a story I just have to share.
I got a call from a woman today who shall remain nameless but who was calling to see if she could keep her husband's name out of the arrest logs. Before I even knew why he was arrested I explained that her calling would not help. If his arrest was something that would normally go in, then he would too and there was nothing I could do about it.
So she goes on to tell me why she really really doesn't want his name in the paper and why she thinks he shouldn't have been arrested.
Her husband was arrested for marijuana cultivation. she told me, but that wasn't right, she said, because they had three medical marijuana cards and only 50 plants growing in their back yard in the Empire Garden subdivision in the north of town. The reason she didn't want her husband's name in the paper was because it would be embarrassing to their sixth and seventh grade sons who would get teased when they went back to school when their schoolmates found out their father had been caught growing pot.
"This was going to be the last time anyway," she said. They were going to quit growing after this crop.
All their friends already know they grow marijuana so it's not that they'll be exposed to friends, just that their sons will be teased at school.
So, here's what strikes me, see if you agree:
• She isn't concerned that she and her husband are growing pot in their back yard when they have young children living in the house. Apparently whatever message the kids were getting here was not, "Stay away from drugs."
• If she's got 50 plants that would yield, conservatively, 25 pounds. At say, $3,000 per pound, again conservatively, they've got $75,000 worth of weed in the back yard that lots of people know about and, once again, two young children at home.
• She is fully admitting that although they pretend this is medical marijuana by holding three "cards," they were going to quit anyway, meaning none of this was really medical marijuana to begin with.
Comments
What is most wrong with the picture is its lack of facts. It is highly possible that a legally qualified grower was arrested; if that is the case, the possibility of overzealous law enforcement trampling the legal rights of the citizenry is traditionally a topic that a newspaper editor would comment on.
Was there was some form of unlawful activity going on? There is nothing stated which indicates such to be the case. Perhaps there was something illegal going on, but the alleged offense is not described. That is poor journalism. Absent relevant facts, slagging local citizens for excercise of legally protected activities is just more sour grapes.
The speculations on yields and values is not only not conservative, it's just more pro-Measure B propaganda as is the rest of the piece.
Thanks for another bit of splendid journalism, KC. You're really on a roll lately - hiding behind your Editor's nameplate handing the public neo-prohibitionist propaganda and calling it journalism. Does the DEA send you a bonus check for this stuff?
Posted by: Otto Diedacht | May 16, 2008 12:10 AM
This mother's time for concern should have been before the parent did something that could get him listed on page two.
I would hope that if they were growing for a truly medical reason the children would know about it and then they could talk with their friends about how one of their parents or friends was ill.
Or if the parents were growing because they did not believe in the current law the parents could have explained how they wanted to change the law. This would have been a way to teach the children about the US history, the laws and civil disobedience.
If they were growing for profit it might be hard for these children to understand why going to college might help them get a good paying job. If these kids have dreams of being a peace officer, a public offical, a sports star their parents actions might just have put a damper on that dream.
Parenting isn't just about housing and feeding kids. It's about teaching them through our own actions.
In the future I hope this mother, if she wants to not embarrass her children, will think of how her actions might effect them now and in the future.
Posted by: Vanessa Vachon | May 17, 2008 09:56 AM