Chopper on Crown Mtn?

Michael,
Booze is not dear to my heart, But "Rum" is a vast economic engine to the economy of STX. This Island has been able to sustain an economy without tourist's due in part to the income stream generated by the production of "Legal Rum". You have been here as a tourist and apparently know nothing about the devastation, crime and corruption that Grass has done to the Islands. So leave your moronic attitude in Ohio. I feel good that when you come and had enough, you just have to pick up anchor and go.

Correction; the federal teat is the vast economic engine to the economy of STX .

Sure what could a hick from Ohio possibly know?
We all know that when you are digging yourself into a deep hole the proper course of action is to dddddddddddig even harder.
I mean what you are doing and have been doing for a long time is really working so well (tu) - what was I thinking.
I bow down to your superior intellect.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein "

Michael,
You're no Albert Einstein, more like a Daffy Duck!:-o Like I said before leave your moronic attitude back in Ohio. You have no idea what you are talking about!(td)

Michael,
You're no Albert Einstein, more like a Daffy Duck!:-o Like I said before leave your moronic attitude back in Ohio. You have no idea what you are talking about!(td)

I asked you for your cost - benifit analysis and what I get is one ad hominin attack after another.

Tchau

check out last years helicopter thread..something like "helecopters all ovah" and see Lizard had no idea what he was talking about then and now he keeps trying to add to the discussion here in favor of legal rum...I personally feel the booze has created more "devastation, crime and corruption" than Grass has done to the Islands.

aquaphonics,
Don't blame me that your WAPA bill went up because you had to bring your plants inside! Your contextomy to my rum reference is really silly.:@)

Michael,
There is no cost benefit analysis available for you to read, I know of no source that takes into account the cost of all agencies invloved in Drug interdiction. That would include some like the Military, Local Law enforcement, State/territory Law enforcement. and various Fed agencies. What I do know is that it changes the way the dopers have to do business, any disruption for the plague that they have put on our society is fine with me. If there is a better mouse trap available to catch the bad guy's I'M for it. You see this is not only my opinion "it's the law". So if you and your cronies want to change the law's That's fine too. then you wont be the bad guy's anymore. Oh it's expensive to enforce, however all law enforcement is expensive and unfortunately needed.

http://leap.cc/cms/index.php

At the lower left hand corner there is a statistical counter that may shed some light concerning the cost benefit analysis, maybe not, but it sure is thought provoking when considering the source

and

. http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/38

Thanks Bombi !

No RATIONAL person could argue with the info there.

Only those profiting in some manner from Prohibition of Pot (POP) have a logical (if self serving) reason to continue POP.

Legalize weed, execute people for the possession of any other illegal drug. Crime will go down tourism will go up, and no one will remember where they left their car keys.

Haha! Yer right, Heavy! Now that'll care of THREE issues! (medicine legalized, drug crime reduced...and less traffic! Haha! ) (tu)

If everyone had only done what was legal even though it made no moral or ethical sense we would all still be British subjects. Cheers to Lizard, I suggest a Rum enema!

Re-Legalizing Marijuana Rapidly Winning Support Across U.S.

The re-legalization of marijuana may be an idea whose time has come.

"Support for legalizing marijuana grows rapidly around U.S." was the headline of an article in the November 23, 2009 Washington Post, one of America's most influential newspapers.

The article reports on numerous signs indicating that re-legalization may soon be on the national agenda. (Marijuana was outlawed by the federal government in 1937, shortly after the repeal of the disastrous alcohol Prohibition experiment.)

Among the points discussed:

* A startling October Gallup poll found fully 44 percent of Americans now favor full legalization of marijuana -- up 13 points since 2000.

* Gallup noted that if support continues to marijuana leafgrow at just 1 to 2 percent per year, "the majority of Americans could favor legalization of the drug in as little as four years."

* Gallup also found that large areas of America already have majority support for re-legalization. Fully 53 percent of Americans in the West already favor legalizing marijuana.

* A planned 2010 initiative will give California voters a chance to vote for relegalization.

* California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared that the issue deserves serious debate -- and the California Board of Equalization, which collects taxes, estimates a tax on pot could raise $1.3 billion for the cash-strapped state.

* In early November the American Medical Association, America's largest and most prestigious physicians organization, dramatically altered its longtime position on marijuana. The AMA is now urging the federal government to change its classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use. The AMA wants this in order to clear the way to conduct clinical research and develop cannabis-based medicines.

Last year, the American College of Physicians, America's second-largest physicians organization, called for "rigorous scientific evaluation of the potential therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana."

Rotorhead,
Before you speak, make sure that what you have to say is better than silence!

Rotorhead,
Before you speak, make sure that what you have to say is better than silence!

Irony is SO funny LOL

Michael,
You didn't understand the trope, and that's sad.Sorry there is no cut and paste for that!

Both Michael and Syzygy,
How much time have you spent on the island, because you must have missed the Home Grown farmers selling their product to the kids at schools, Kids out of school, the tourist's on the street, So come out with your cute remarks and continue to support the "Citizen Doper sales force". It's amazing the expertise and position on what's appropriate and what's a waste of resources. Maybe when you both arrive on the island you can get a job selling grass.[/quote

OK Lizard you got me. I have no time on that island to speak of. So yes you do have me on the subject of island knowledge. But the activities described here isn't unique to the islands only. The DEA is alive and well in Fla. and yes does much the same kind of fly overs to eradicate home-growers crops. And yes I disapprove of the war on drugs for numerous reasons. One of which is like Linda said. Only she feels that to escalate the war on drugs will somehow improve this situation. It is my thinking that instead that feeds the drug gangs with even more profit by driving up the cost for something that grows freely if allowed to. How about just legalize and regulate its cultivation and use to be something more responsible. The methods that you support are well tested and tried proving it to be not effective in eliminating these negative aspects that you have outlined. But no doubt we will keep on trucking down the same destructive path much to the drug lords delight.

Oh and by the way. My comment was made with light humor in mind. Your reply has left me wondering about island humor or the lack thereof.

 

Been off this board for a week or so but I was home in the rain forest during the helicopter fly overs on STX. My house is 600' above sea level and I find it hard to believe that helicopter was even 100' above our house, leaves were flying all over the place at such force they managed to enter the screened gallery through available cracks around doors. The guys hanging out the sides could have jumped onto my roof probably without injury.

Having never experienced this before I was terrified. I had no idea what was going on. I felt first we must be under attack and then since I wasn't shot) just so frightened an accident would happen and I would have no way to protect myself from flying debris. They hovered practically still for long periods of time , circle, returned and hovered over our immediate area for what seemed like 20 minutes . . . I am sure it must have been less but I was simply to scared to check time or get my cell phone or camera, I wish I had video recorded it.

I have no issue whatsoever for the DEA doing their job but I don't feel I should have been subjected to such terror. I was very shaken by the whole ordeal.

I heard later the police visited a local property and confiscated two whole plants. I sincerely hope the search netted much more than that. Do they report the results anywhere?

SunOrSki, that sounds terrible....hopefully this is over now for another year.

Thanks for sharing your personal story...I guess this is your welcome to the war on drugs. Its a real shame that this is thought of as acceptable in a country that proclaims itself as "land of the free." Drugs are horrible but going to war with your own citizens is much, much worse.

Sean

Sean,
what is the difference with the DEA going to war with the citizens or the citizens going to war against the government.
MJ is illegal, not getting into whether or not it should be, so if it is illegal the government should fight it.
Maybe they should legalize it and tax it.

We knew right away what they were doing. We watched them with the binocs. It never entered my mind to be afraid, but I've seen them before..

on st john that copter flew over my house twice last friday and was so close i was able to see the guys inside it. I live up centerline maybe 4-500 feet above sea level and they were only another 50 ft or so above my house.

Terry,

I'm not saying the DEA isn't "just doing their jobs." I don't necessarily want to get into the "do you have moral aboslution when you are just doing your job" debate either.

I guess what I am saying is that when making something illegal turns your country into a warzone and starts to look like war against a large number of your citizens you maybe should question the moral basis for the law. This is one of many reasons that I find the prohibition of drugs morally incorrect and Constitutionally questionable. Like you suggest, this sort of behavior should make anyone wonder if the country would be better served by legalizing it.

Sean

There is a multitude of things that are against the law. Simply the fact that it is illegal doesn't justify the way the drug laws are singled out and focused upon at ALL cost. My county has a sign posted right there on the county line stating "zero tolerance on drugs". We do have our share of rapist, murders, thieves, ect. But does law enforcement publicly ostracize those illegal activities? No they do not. Sometimes I feel the war on drugs is just a smoke screen that makes people feel like we are getting our monies worth. While they ignore the truly damaging crimes that are taking place all around us.

My apologizes for sounding so cynical about this. It is just that I have seen enough of the war on drugs that it makes me want to puke. While at the same time I have had people steal from me and the police new for a fact who they were and where they were. But did nothing about it at all. So I lost my valuables while the true criminals freely enjoy them. But not to worry those same law enforcement have zero tolerance on drugs. :$)

Well put. (tu)

There is an faa minimum for helicopters, perhaps that court case overruled it in some way but regardless, endangering others is the real concern.

I'm in the midst of working with the faa field office in PR to shut down the prick on STX who thinks it is lots of fun to buzz my home 200 feet AGL while my kids are playing outside.

Sure, he doesnt actually present a danger unless by some awful chance his engine died. The "endangering people" claim is a pretty fine line to walk... if you shoot a gun and there is any chance that other people were in the line of fire then you were endangering people, especially if you didn't HAVE to shoot the gun.

When the faa issues an inquiry you have to talk to a real live faa examiner, it's not a stamp the form government worker, these guys take their jobs seriously. So for example in the situation I'm referencing, the guy flying *could have* simply been 200 yards further out and presented no danger but was clearly thrill seeking and felt that it was safer to buzz my property and family than to make the proper choice to stay over open land.

Not only is it foolish, violating faa laws, but it's just idiotic "im invincable" flying.. the first thing you learn in flight school is to always always be looking for an emergency landing spot. If you're hovering over people and your motor dies, you not only die but so do the people below you, that's not looking for a safe landing spot.

My advice, do what I did, video tape video tape video tape, take photos and have a few folks with you as witnesses so that when you DO report to the FAA you have real proof.

The guy might get his wings clipped for a few months, he might lose his license permanently, but at the very minimum he'll have to spend a long day answering some uncomfortable questions to the faa..... regardless of whether they are dea or private.