Marijuana and the law of unintended consequences.
So, I’ve recently gained the opportunity to observe some of my fellow citizens (and illegals) as we make use of the light rail system in the city. Here are 2 observations I think noteworthy.
- There are a certain number of people who make up a hardened criminal element who simply will not pay to use the service regardless of the consequences.
- The legalization of marijuana has a spillover effect that no one (in elected office) anticipated.
- Every day, guys working for the security service contracted by the light rail check the on-board passengers for valid fare. A one-way local ticket runs only $2.60. All day is $5.20. If you are disabled, a minor, or senior, the cost is half that. If you have valid fare and present it when asked, fine. If you don’t, the officer has some discretion but the fine from the citation can reach as high as $106.50 depending on the municipality. He can write you a simple warning if it is your first offense, or he can suspend you from using any RTD service for periods up to a year. He also can just “convince you” to hop and buy a ticket at the next stop. The train isn’t going to wait for you, so you’ll have to wait a few minutes (no more than 15) for the next one.
Some officers are hard asses who seemingly live to write citations and exert their authority over the masses. Others are more easy going, seeking options to resolve the offender’s misdemeanor crime until there aren’t any. The last group are the most dangerous. They do not write warnings or tickets, rather rely solely on the possibility of getting the criminal to get off and buy a ticket. The rookies will often get off and simply get on the next train gambling there won’t be a fare inspector on it, or even if there is, he doesn’t know you just got kicked off the previous train. The hardened criminal, who has run into the sheep officer before will refuse to get off or provide identification, thus creating an impasse. Call for the police or just walk away and let him get away with it.
Most people who are encountered without fare NEVER buy fare. They don’t forget nor were they running too late to stop and buy one. Their intent was and is always to utilize the service without paying for it. Buying tickets is something everyone else does, not them. Then when a fare inspector arrives, they play this silly evasion game of moving to the opposite end of the rail car hoping it comes to the next stop before the officer gets to them. They hop off and move up to the next car. If the officer also does, they hop off the train and wait for the next one. If contacted, they do this silly dance while they pat pockets pull out random papers, look through their wallet/purse, sift through the pockets of their back pack–stalling for the train to get to the next stop so they de-board and wait for the next one.
Many times the officer lets them go. It is called mitigating. Other times the officer gets off and gets the individual’s ID. They are looked up by name and date of birth (DOB). If they are clean (no prior contacts) they should be issued a written warning and let to continue for that trip. The warning ticket serves as their fare to their destination. They need a ticket to return, though they likely won’t buy one. They are officers who simply give verbal warnings. These are the worst kind as nothing is learned since their was no lesson conveyed other than not buying a ticket works.
The homeless (domically challenged) are often frequent fare violators. They don’t have a place to live, no job, therefore no money–at least none to spend buying a ticket to ride on the trains. (They do almost always, however, have cigarettes.) They often ride heavily laden with several bags and/or bedrolls since they have no place to store their things and leaving them along side the tracks or in a tent will only result in their being stolen by another homeless person. Typically, a fare inspector will only kick them off the train since, as they are homeless, the courts will simply throw out the violation since there is no address to anchor them to. Thus, lawlessness is enabled and encouraged.
- Colorado made personal purchase and consumption of marijuana legal. Politicians saw only the dollars signs related to their actions from the tax revenues. What has happened has been a classic example of a spill over or second and third-order effects that was easy to predict if only one thought about it.
Blinded by the flowery promises from out of state funded and founded special interest lobbyists, the feel-good democratically controlled state houses both allowed the issue onto the ballot, then actively endorsed it. The prospect of millions of tax dollars to spend on social programs (like in-state tuition for illegals) was too salivating to ignore.
Pot is often called a “gateway drug” and rightfully so. It is most frequently abused by the teen. They start there and sometimes, not always, but often progress to cocaine, heroin, or some other harder drug. I see many teens and college aged riders who either admit or project the effects of their drug use. Scabbed faces is the most prevalent.
Legal pot has brought hundreds if not thousands of people to the state so they can “legally” get high. Pot can be bought in about as many places as Starbucks. It isn’t as simple as that but those so driven do not care. One is allowed to smoke in the privacy of their own home; not in public. But as stated, those looking to get high do not worry about such technicalities. Now examine the results of not worrying.
I smoke pot in the plaza/pavilion at Union Station because I want to get high regardless of the law. The police cite me. Now I have to go to court and pay a fine. Since I’m hooked on the effects of the weed, I either forget, blow off, or can’t afford to pay the fines and/or go to court. Now I have a misdemeanor crime record and a FTA (failure to appear) warrant against me which will result in being arrested, not just cited/dined the next time I decide to just light up a joint in public. Now I’m in jail with no easy means of paying my bail/fine. I miss work as a result. My employer quickly grows weary of my attendance issue and fires me. Now I have a record and no job. I’m not easily going to find a new job–at least one that has a future. Without income, I will soon be evicted from the apartment I’m renting either by myself, or with friends who won’t cover my expenses forever. In short order, I’m homeless, jobless, and penniless, hanging out at Union Station to stay warm on cold December days. Within 30 minutes, security there will push me along where I’ll resist, and eventually have the police called whereby I’ll be cited for trespassing. But I still have my habit and need to get high. Without a job, I resort to stealing. Either food just to survive, or merchandise that I can fence in order to get my next baggie.
And there, folks, is just one scenario, but I’ve seen it and see it daily. And it is one reason I hope this winter is the harshest, coldest, most bitter, and longest on record. That will either drive the idiots to a warmer climate or we’ll find their frozen corpses alongside the train tracks. They aren’t contributors anyway. No loss to the collective of humanity.