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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 19, 2024

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It's not the 9th circuit (and it's not even the US), but if you go just a bit north then using hard drugs in a playground is not illegal.

The Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act was passed by the legislature in November, allowing fines and imprisonment for people who refuse to comply with police orders not to consume drugs in certain public places.

The nurses association argued the act, which has yet to come into effect, would violate the Canadian Charter in various ways if enforced.

(background info)

In San Francisco, we got a homeless pedophile advertising free fentanyl to kids from pre-k to 8th grade outside their school:

https://abc7news.com/san-francisco-free-fentanyl-sign-child-molester-adam-moore-found-guilty-stella-maris-academy-sf/14215982/

(In fairness, he did end up arrested and convicted, but only after public outcry.)

That law only had to be passed because BC decriminalized hard drug consumption. They fucked themselves, and then the court ruled that if you’re going to allow hard drug consumption then the risk to the addict means they should be allowed to do them in public. That’s obviously ridiculous, but if they had never decriminalized this farce wouldn’t even be taking place because police could just seize the drugs as illegal substances anyway.

That said, Vancouver is still much nicer than any major US West Coast City. Chinatown / Downtown East is a shithole, but the rest is largely fine.

That is a "I never thought the leopards would eat my face" situation. What the hell did they think would happen? Drugs are now legal (sorry, decriminalised), cops can't bust you for having them, so - what? all the junkies would politely stay at home out of sight to shoot up?

That guy in SF was lucky the cops eventually arrested him, upon first reading the story I had no idea why some of the fathers/male caregivers didn't organise to 'encourage him to relocate'. Why the hell he ever got out of jail in the first place I have no idea, but at least one parent did have a backbone:

Moore recently had a confrontation with a parent from the school and now faces a misdemeanor battery charge for that.

I realise his attorney has to do the best she can for her client, but honestly, if she succeeds in getting him released once more, he's going to end up pissing off somebody who won't care about the poor little homeless guy being persecuted by the big, mean cops and he'll end up dead. He's safer in jail.

Moore's attorney tells us, the two charges he faces are normally "cite and release" and that nothing would have happened if Moore had set up camp and posted his signs in the Tenderloin.

"And this guy is annoying, because he moves around this particular area a lot," Erica Franklin said. "And he's annoyed quite a few people. And I feel like because of that reason, because it's sort of an isolated area of San Francisco, that he's being treated differently."

I had no idea why some of the fathers/male caregivers didn't organise to 'encourage him to relocate'.

This is probably an explanatory factor for why it was in San Francisco and not other places.

That is a "I never thought the leopards would eat my face" situation. What the hell did they think would happen? Drugs are now legal (sorry, decriminalised), cops can't bust you for having them, so - what? all the junkies would politely stay at home out of sight to shoot up?

It is, in fact, possible and consistent to have legal drugs which are illegal to consume in public. It's even enforceable, and in some cities (or parts of cities) enforced with respect to alcohol. The only reason there's a slippery slope from decriminalization to junkies shooting up in the street with impunity is that the powers that be want there to be one.

Worth a mention on the illegality and relative enforcement levels, some of the open container laws are enforced in with a very light touch as long as people aren't doing something too egregious. There are quite a few parks where open containers are technically illegal, but no one will give you shit for having a beer with a picnic. If the raison d'être of a get together is drinking, yeah, you're going to have an issue, but enforcement is ultimately discretionary and there is no law of the universe that the discretion has to be maximally retarded.

That guy in SF was lucky the cops eventually arrested him, upon first reading the story I had no idea why some of the fathers/male caregivers didn't organise to 'encourage him to relocate'.

The cops would suddenly remember that it is actually possible to arrest people, the DA would recollect that it is possible to prosecute violence, and they would be fired for punching down at a disabled person having a mental health crisis. Also, there's a good chance that they're a pack of cowards even in the absence of the above.