Head Shop Raids Are Unconscionable
source: http://blog.norml.org/2009/01/03/head-shop-raids-are-unconscionable/
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- pcole
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The temperature on October 17, 2008 in Key West was its typical and tropical 75 degrees. Ladies were sunning themselves bare-breasted at the Pier House’s private beach. Fishermen were working the pier, vacationers on mopeds criss-crossed the narrow streets, and more than one drunk stumbled down an alleyway. After all, it is still Key West.
But the heat on Duval Street was about to get hotter.
The shops on Duval Street opened their doors as usual, with no threats of a hurricane brewing. Merchants, if anything, were readying themselves for the annual, sin-filled festival of self-ordained decadence, Key West Fantasy Fest. On that date, many of them, head shops, were selling rolling papers, glass pipes, bongs, and other products designed to enhance the “right of happiness,” a constitutional right not too often protected by our courts.
The stores had signs all over them saying the products are for ‘legal and tobacco use only.’ But this distressed the new mayor, concerned that his little town was sending the wrong message: “You know that you don’t really smoke tobacco out of those things.” He sounded like Sarah Palin telling us how you could see Russia ‘from my house here in Alaska.’
But the heat on Duval Street was about to get hotter.
The shops on Duval Street opened their doors as usual, with no threats of a hurricane brewing. Merchants, if anything, were readying themselves for the annual, sin-filled festival of self-ordained decadence, Key West Fantasy Fest. On that date, many of them, head shops, were selling rolling papers, glass pipes, bongs, and other products designed to enhance the “right of happiness,” a constitutional right not too often protected by our courts.
The stores had signs all over them saying the products are for ‘legal and tobacco use only.’ But this distressed the new mayor, concerned that his little town was sending the wrong message: “You know that you don’t really smoke tobacco out of those things.” He sounded like Sarah Palin telling us how you could see Russia ‘from my house here in Alaska.’
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tmt1
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that sucks.
- 3 years ago
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tmt1
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pjacobs51
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Remember "Operation Pipe Dream" in 2000 - 2001. When Ashcroft should have been looking for terrorist in flight schools, he was arresting pipe makers and closing head shops.(Tommy Chong included) Putting honest people out of work and shutting down business after business. And it's not what this economy needs right now. This self-rightious mayor should realize the tax revenue he will loose, on top of everything else.
- 3 years ago
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pjacobs51
