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The Nation's Pulse
My Zero Tolerance Policy
Would society be better off if we legalized public order crimes?
After my wife and her mother walked past a drug deal in progress on our residential street last month, we decided we’d had enough. From then on we would call 9-1-1 whenever we saw anybody – black or white, hipster or Latino — using illegal drugs on our block. That included marijuana.
In our inner-city neighborhood joints are smoked like cigarettes, right out in the open, by stoners of all ages, including people strolling casually down the sidewalk. Sometimes when my wife and I take our dachshund for an evening stroll it seems we are walking through one continuous cloud of reefer smoke. It’s like being at a Grateful Dead concert c. 1975. Nobody cares because everybody does it. It’s considered normal for the ghetto.
So it was time for a new normal. The next time my wife saw our 20-year old ne’er-do-well neighbors smoking weed in their backyard she told them to knock it off. (My wife spent 15 years investigating child abuse and neglect cases in The Big City. She is fearless.) Naturally, they dismissed her.
“This is what black people do,” they informed her.
“Seriously?” she said. “Not the black people I know.”
“Well, this is our property.”
“It’s your grandfather’s property, and what you are doing is illegal.”
“So? It’s our property.”
They simply couldn’t grasp the concept that you couldn’t do illegal things on your own property. (Apparently St. Louis Public Schools do not offer much in the way of logic courses.) My wife told them that by openly smoking weed they were sending a message to the dealers that drugs were tolerated on our block. (And, until we came along, they were.) She didn’t bother to explain the Broken Windows Theory to them, but that was what we were thinking. You tolerate a little bit of crime, and it sends a message to the criminals that they can get away with more serious crimes. Anyway, they had been warned.
The next day they were at it again, toking away on the stoop in front of their grandfather’s house. This time I called 9-1-1. I told the dispatcher there were two young men using illegal drugs outside our neighbor’s house. In less than three minutes three cruisers pulled up. Unfortunately, the dope fiends had gone inside.
I soon learned that the cops’ rapid response was due to the fact that, following several recent shootings, our neighborhood was one of the hotspots in which the St. Louis police are stepping up patrols.
THE NEXT NIGHT the perpetrators were our neighbors across the street, some four or five middle-aged people hanging out on the stoop, partying and getting stoned. Again, I called the cops. Again, they fled indoors in the nick of time. However, that seemed to do the trick. Since the visit from Johnny Law that night, open drug use seems to have curtailed considerably. We’ll see how long this continues.
Libertarians/liberals say if we’d just legalize marijuana the crime problem would be solved. Of course we’d have to legalize methamphetamine too, the rural equivalent of marijuana. If the overall goal is to reduce crime, it would make more sense to legalize all drugs and every other so-called public order crime from prostitution to poaching, though it’s hard to see how blanket legalization will make society better off. Anyway, common sense dictates that the burden of proof lies on those who want to change society. They have the obligation to convince the rest of us that society will be better off with legal pot and that there won’t be any damaging consequences. And so far they haven’t made that case. Not to my satisfaction. Until they do we’re sticking with our zero tolerance policy. At least on our street.
About the Author
Christopher Orlet writes from St. Louis.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (31) | Leave a comment
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Sean| 9.27.12 @ 6:59AM
I don't see how them smoking weed on their own property affects you. You sound like some of the worse kinds of neighbors. You should never call the police on your neighbors unless it is something serious. If you are too close to your neighbors then think about moving out of an overcrowded city area into a more spacious suburb.
Von Mises Jr| 9.27.12 @ 8:04AM
I think if it is OK for the President, it should be OK for the kids in the hood. The President's ex-sex Czar wanted them to give each other pleasure regardless of plumbing. No wonder the kids are confused and rebellious.
While not condoning doing illegal acts in public, there is something wrong with being like the "1984" Emmanuel Goldstein. The police are a necessary function to protect life and property. They are not attack dogs supplied for repressive neighbors to harass the kids next door.
You have a government that urinates on the Constitution for shits and giggles, and the author's wife is offended by misdemeanors?
spike59| 9.27.12 @ 3:22PM
'If you are too close to your neighbors then think about moving out of an overcrowded city area into a more spacious suburb.'
----------------------------------------
why should a law-abiding citizen have to move? if you don't want to be hassled about breaking the law in pulic, stop doing it! if some perv is masturbating in fromt of your daughter, would the onus be on HER to turn away and let him have his fun????
PCPSmokerII| 9.27.12 @ 9:16PM
Pretty hard core example you are using. This would be a definite reason to leave.
Occam's Tool| 9.27.12 @ 7:11PM
Sean:
It's breaking the law and it's serious. You have no kids, do you? If you did, you might think differently about pot smoking neighbors. Add to that the fact that you are telling Mr. Orlet that he needs to IGNORE openly law breaking neighbors, and you have a recipe for chaos.
Rudy Guiliani turned around crime in NYC by making his cops follow Mr. Orlet's advice.
There is a world of difference between doing something obnoxious, like putting out Obama posters, and doing something illegal, like engaging in drug crimes.
Sean| 9.27.12 @ 11:44PM
Occam, I have three kids and if someone is smoking pot on their property it doesn't affect me or them. I like to drink beer on occasion and it doesn't affect my neighbors. I use to smoke a cigarette or two and it didn't affect them. This nanny state mentality is killing this country.
gray man| 9.28.12 @ 11:33PM
Nonsense, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer are not breaking the law (unless you are under age). Deliberately turning a blind eye to someone breaking the law just teaches your children that they don't have to obey any rules including yours. If you think smoking pot is OK then act like a responsible citizen and work towards changing the law. you might actually teach your children something good.
willwortman | 9.27.12 @ 7:21AM
You know, when we had the prohibition against alcohol, at least the people of that era were intelectually honest enough to realize that they needed to amend the constitution. Then we found the Commerce Clause and now the Feds can do what they will. Prohibition created Al Capone, the war on drugs created the drug cartels! It really is as simple as that. I don't want to live in a police state, but that is what it would take to get anywhere near what the author wants and it still would not work. Prohibition creates a black market, a black market creates huge profits, huge profits attract criminals, criminals attract the State, and the state wants subjects.
If you don't like the way your neighbors live their lives, then practice the time honored american tradition and move to a neighborhood of like minded people.
Thomas Jefferson said that the most valuable of all talents was to never use two words when one will do. I would differ, the most valuable of all talents is to learn how to mind your own business.
gray man| 9.28.12 @ 11:39PM
nonsense. see my previous comment. Your argument would have merit if organized crime went away after prohibition was changed. it didn't. criminals will be criminals. I prefer the time honored american tradition of throwing the bums out of town. Northfield, Minnesota set the example for handling ruffians.
Appleby| 9.27.12 @ 7:23AM
Breaking the law is "something serious", Sean. The law is the law. I was nearly run down on the sidewalk by a woman riding her bicycle in open defiance of the law, and when I told her it was illegal to ride on the sidewalk she like you said "It's a stupid law." Her young daughter was standing nearby, with her bike, and I asked her mother, "So when you come to visit your daughter in the hospital after she's been thrown through the windshield because she wasn't wearing her seat belt, and you look at her ruined face and her broken bones and ask why not, and she says BECAUSE THAT'S A STUPID LAW, that's going to be okay with you?" She had no answer. But the little girl reminded her, as they started to cross the street, that, stupid law or not, she had to walk her bike in the crosswalk. We have to obey all the laws to have a civil society, not just the ones we don't think are Stupid.
willwortman | 9.27.12 @ 10:24AM
Throwing tea in Boston Harbor was against the law also, failing to pay the Stamp Act tax was against the law. The Constitution is "The Law" for the federal government and they openly flaunt it every day, There is nothing in the constitution that gives the federal government the authority to do half of the things that it does . We are becoming Sheeple, not worthy of Liberty. God Help Us.
Appleby| 9.27.12 @ 4:12PM
Actions Have Consequences. Breaking the law to start a revolution, and breaking the law to show the neighbours "You're Not The Boss Of Me" both have consequences. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to decide if the consequences (e.g. your neighbours calling the cops, or the British sending in the troops) are worth the action.
Sean| 9.27.12 @ 11:50PM
You sound as bad as the Democrat nanny state backers. Guess what I grew up in those lawless 70s and early 80s. I wonder how we all survived wearing no seat belts or helmets. Oh by the way we also use to ride our bikes on the sidewalk. Its it much safer than riding it in the middle of the street.
gray man| 9.28.12 @ 11:44PM
I grew up then to, however you (and I) let the nanny staters have their way. The way you fix it is to change the law and hold the courts and law enforcement accountable. Flaunting the law does nothing more then put yourself in jail, then what are you going to do. One thing I learned in the military is when to fall on your sword. you need to learn that.
Pecos Pete| 9.27.12 @ 8:20AM
Prohibition creates black markets with huge profits. Yep. That is something to remember if King O is reelected and rationing of health care and energy (gasoline in particular) progresses on their current path.
abdulah| 9.27.12 @ 10:14AM
Pete, until my recent visit to Netherlands, I would argue for the prohibition of soft drugs, like marijuana. Most of the reports appearing in American media are negative. Interestingly, it does not look that bad up close. Who used drugs, keeps using them. I haven't seen an aggressive drug user in Amsterdam. I noticed most of them are low class folks, unemployed and unemployable. I recognized familiar types - tattoos, unkept facial hair, dirty closes etc. Colleagues of mine, engineers and scientists, never use drugs, do not have friends or any contacts with drug users. None. I think the worse for Netherlands is passing, human garbage is been separated from the productive society and likely to shrink and remain on the peripheral of the society, if not disappearing completely. The violent crime is way down and, except for North African immigrants, almost nonexistent. But that's a different story. My trip to Netherlands changed my view. When alcohol prohibition was over, alcoholism did not consume our country. Opposite happened. We, American middle class, learn to consume alcohol responsively. Once police stops chasing dope smokers, it is more likely to have time and money to pursue violent crimes and crimes against property.
gray man| 9.28.12 @ 11:58PM
first if I wanted to live in the netherlands I would move to the netherlands, second americans were drinking alcohol responsibly before prohibition.
tdiinva| 9.27.12 @ 8:50AM
Christopher:
I hope you and your wife have carry permits. If you insist on interfering with the livelihood of criminals you better have the means to protect yourself.
fmm| 9.27.12 @ 10:45AM
I suspect that the smokers learned more from the confrontations than most of the posters today.
Gary B| 9.27.12 @ 12:09PM
As Sarah Palin would say, "How's that War on Drugs goin' for ya'?"
I say legalize all of it and refocus law enforcement elsewhere, like cops who kill innocent citizens.
gray man| 9.28.12 @ 11:55PM
I like sarah palin , but that comment is nonsensical, we don't know if things would be better or worse without the "drug war". crime did not go away when prohibition was overturned. criminals just look for something else illegal to do.
Slacker| 9.27.12 @ 12:18PM
I also choose to live in a ghetto because it is cheap.
Regardless of what you think of drug use, as a practical matter, harassing the neighborhood druggies accomplishes nothing. You will not turn them into good neighbors. They did this before you showed up and they will do it after you are gone. You moved into their ghetto. Also, the cops are quickly going to tire of your nonsense.
No use defending individual liberties around here but, if societal improvement is the supreme goal then all you neocons are just another variety of progressive.
By the way, it is ludicrous to claim methamphetamine is the rural equivalent of marijuana. You need a fact checker.
spike59| 9.27.12 @ 3:27PM
what has this society come to when people who are breaking the freaking law are defended, and people who expect the law to be upheld are accused of 'nonsense?' if you are buying illicit drugs, chances are, you are an accessory to: bribery, murder, narco-terrorism, gun running, prostitution, kiddie porn...the people who make their living in this 'trade' are the lowest scum on the earth, and their 'clients' are aiding and abbetting...get real
Appleby| 9.27.12 @ 4:15PM
Odds are pretty good that you are committing theft to feed your habit, too. Where do you think that weed money comes from? Your scumbag neighbours' trust funds?
gray man| 9.28.12 @ 11:49PM
actually most ghettos were created by the druggies etc, not the other way around. they should be the ones "moved out"
Bill8472| 9.27.12 @ 1:02PM
On the issue of legalizing marijuana/"victimless" crimes, we have freedom because we can distinguish between freedom and license.
When we can't do that anymore, that's when marijuana will be legalized, followed soon afterward as you quite correctly point out by crystal meth.
Bill8472| 9.27.12 @ 1:02PM
Smoking marijuana, "that's what black people do."
How about going to church on Sunday? Black people do a lot of that, too.
cicero| 9.27.12 @ 4:43PM
Freedon and capitalism can only exist in a state that is ruled by law. However, for a law to be enforceable it must only prohibit those things that the vast majority of the citizens deem unacceptable (murder, rape, robbery, etc.), and the vast minority indulge in. Trying to prohibit activity that a substantial segment of the population sees as not wrong, while only a bare majority deems unacceptible, renders any such law a waste of time and resources. The prohibition on the use of marij is one of those. It was the same with the use of alcohol.
To live in the neighborhood where the vast majority of people appprove of the deed prohibited, and the vast majority of them indulge , is to beg for problems. The use of marij cannot be stopped, nor can the law be enforced in any fashion other as an irritant. For one to appoint himself an enforcer under such circumstances, especially in an area where violence is also not an unacceptable option, is to beg for problems. Even the early pioneers were smart enough not to set up camp next to an Apache raiding party.
PCPSmokerII| 9.27.12 @ 9:14PM
You live next to black people who openly smoke weed? What are you trying to prove? Who wants to put up with that? Take a hint dude, it's time to march. Pack your bags and hit the suburbs. At least your neighbors' weird rituals are kept inside their homes.
atilla| 9.29.12 @ 10:37AM
OD.....SOONER THAN LATER, DUDE
atilla| 9.29.12 @ 10:35AM
I WILL TRY TO BE BRIEF.
IF YOU LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS IT IS CERTAIN THAT THE VIOLENT CRIME RATE WILL DROP CLOSE TO ZERO.. AT THE SAME TIME DRUG USE WILL SPIKE UP AND MANY OF THE USERS WILL OD AND DIE....SO FAR SO GOOD...WHO NEEDS 'EM?
WE COULD LET A LOT OF COPS GO, WE WOULDN'T NEED SO MANY THEN, BUT WE WOULD HAVE TO HIRE MORE SANITATION MEN WHO WOULD PATROL THE STREES WITH FRONT LOADERS TO SCOOP UP THE OD PRODUCED CADAVERS. SOME MIGHT BE HORRIFIED....I WOULD NOT BE.
I DO THINK THO, THAT AFTER A WHILE, THOSE LESS INCLINED TO DOPE UP WOULD DECIDE THAT THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN BEING STONED.
ALSO, THINK OF THE AVAILABLE JAIL SPACE THAT WOULD COME AVAILABLE FOR THE TRULY DANGEROUS PEOPLE TO BE WAREHOUSED.....FOREVER!!!.
SOUNDS LIKE WIN-WIN FOR ALL LAW ABIDING PEOPLE.....I'M JUST SAYEN'.