Police use Occupy Protesters as Ganja Guinea Pigs
August 12th, 2013
Six Minneapolis Occupants filed a civil suit against the Minneapolis PD alleging they were subject to an “unethical clinical trial” in which police gave marijuana to Occupy protesters, homeless people, and other “vulnerable members of the population” and then transported them to a government warehouse for observation.
The Occupants were all in their late teens and early twenties. They were each approached by armed police officers, assured they would not be arrested and provided ten bowls of pot “obtained from police evidence in other cases.” Then the officers drove them to a government warehouse for “observation.” Talk about paranoia inducing.
At a hearing in front of US Magistrate Franklin Noel last week, Alan Milstein, an attorney for the six Minneapolis Occupants said his clients were used as “human guinea pigs.” He said “They used them as means to an end, and that’s wrong.” But State officials defend the practice as an important part of their Drug Recognition Evaluator Training Program. Which is used to “prevent marijuana from being provided to members of the public.”
Did you catch that? To prevent marijuana from being provided to the public the police are providing marijuana to the public. Since the State is so certain that marijuana is a gateway drug with all these deleterious effects, I suppose they should offer these Occupy protesters restitution for the damages they caused them, right?
Jason Hiveley, an attorney for the police department asserts, “they voluntarily got into police cars and left.” And that’s really just a sick admission of the double standard law enforcement enjoys. When cops arrest drug dealers the drug dealers don’t get to say, “they voluntarily bought my product.” Cops don’t throw up their hands and say, “Oh! It was voluntary? Well, I guess our work here is done.” They throw people in rape cages for giving marijuana to people who “voluntarily” take it.
Besides, I think we all know so-called “voluntary” interaction with armed men in uniforms who are legally shielded from the consequences of their actions usually comes with a hint of intimidation. Was Officer Friendly approaching them out of uniform and saying, “Hey kids, wanna party?” Or was it the typical fake requests, phrased to sound like orders that cops make, “I’m going to have to ask you to smoke this bowl, Son.” It makes a difference. Maybe they got into the car voluntarily. Did they ever ask to leave? A toddler gets into a kidnapper’s van voluntarily. It’s what happens after that makes it a crime. I know I’d feel like I stepped through a wormhole into Bizzaro World if a cop offered to smoke me out.
Further, how did they know it was just pot? Random skunk weed from the police evidence locker could have come from anywhere, could be laced with anything. Do you think the police took even the slightest precaution to ensure the safety of the subjects in their experiment? I doubt it. Not to mention it’s totally unscientific. What could possibly be the point of herding undesirables into a warehouse and watching them smoke pot? What do they hope to learn?
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