COLUMN: Cracking down on Spice, the nation’s new prohibition
Prohibition didn’t work out so well. Will the crackdown on spice, the marijuana substitute, be any better? My fingers are crossed.
The Ogden City Council recently passed a ban on this Mary Jane substitute, and one of my personal heroes, Police Chief Jon Greiner, is leading the charge on the illegal sales of this substance by setting up sting operations at the tobacco shops and stores who sell it just as readily as pipe tobacco. Other counties are currently working to pass similar bans, as Cache County did last week, and we can expect this issue to be addressed at the legislative session this spring. Currently spice, also known as K2, is illegal in Germany, France, Chile, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, and the UK.
If you give an inch, they take a mile. If we allow this sense- and judgment-inhibiting drug to be sold in stores, it is one step closer to legalizing marijuana and even harder drugs likes meth and cocaine, just like removing all punishments and negative repercussions for children doesn’t make them more responsible. They gain maturity and responsibility through parents setting limits.
If you subscribe to the belief that “it will just be sold on the streets and just as easy to get, so why bother banning it?” allow me to take a moment to figuratively backhand you for being such an idiot. Sure, it will be sold on the streets, but if you live in Ogden, beware; you don’t know Chief Greiner as well as I do. He is the man behind the newest gang injunction which allows prosecutors to go after known gang members for associating with one another, calling it a public nuisance. He even put an 11 p.m. curfew on them and yes, it is all completely legal and enforceable. He is one tough cookie, and is committing a lot of time and energy on the spice crackdown before it becomes a widely-used narcotic.
More importantly, if something is illegal but you are sure people will break the law anyway, it is not a good idea to legalize it. If Joe Shmo is a drunk but you know he has a car and will be driving drunk, would you also condone him getting behind the wheel intoxicated because even though it is illegal and endangers lives, you think he will do it anyway regardless of the consequences? Didn’t think so. So why the double standard? Perhaps because you think it is a harmless practice. Well, that is where you are wrong again. Spice is reported to have even stronger effects than your regular swag and is currently sold to anyone 18 and older, and even that is only when it’s enforced.
During the last Utah State Legislative Session, Representative Paul Ray (my state Representative) ran and passed a bill against e-cigarettes. Up until his proactive legislation, this nicotine product was sold to minors. I’m sure there are children who still smoke cigarettes or even e-cigarettes, which can still be legally bought online, but are at least now less accessible. Strides are being taken to remove this dangerous and deadly substance from our communities but it needs the hard nose and strict enforcement from our judicial and legislative branches as well as the resources to put boot leather to butt.
The whole point of having laws is to enforce them and set limits to protect our citizens and provide for the greater good. If a law is being broken rampantly throughout the community, the solution is not to throw in the towel and legalize the activity or substance, but to give our law enforcement agencies more resources so they can enforce laws that are already in the books. Look at the current war on drugs, illegal immigration, and even polygamy. Yeah, I mean even you, Kingston clan and Warren Jeffs. All of these things are illegal, with firm punishments, but our police and prosecutors don’t have the resources they need to come down hard on these lawbreakers.
My experience with Utah lawmakers has proven to me that a lack of money is not the problem when it comes to budget shortfalls, but instead it is allocated to wasteful pork barrel projects like employment for unnecessary school district employees and art on underpasses. This might be an argument for another column. I digress, but if we were able to arm law enforcement with the necessary tools for them to do their jobs, the spice problem would be eradicated.
If our lawmakers are committed enough, while supported by the voters, to put spice on the blacklist, but we turn our heads to the blatant violation of the law, we are doing ourselves a disservice. Criminals will pick and choose which laws they want to abide by, which encourages them to test our tolerance of their outlaw ways. If we send the message that only some of our laws are really harmful or enforced, who is to say which ones they will chose to comply with?
To make myself perfectly clear, if you live in Ogden, or anywhere in Northern Utah for that matter, don’t take your minor cousin to be your bride, don’t get behind the wheel after downing a fifth of Jack, and if you want to buy spice, get the stuff at Wal-Mart found next to the paprika.
Renae Cowley is a senior majoring in public relations. She can be reached at renaecowley@gmail.com