Would you ever snitch on a friend? Would it depend on the severity of the crime? Perhaps the depth of the friendship?
Maybe anonymity and a couple of bucks might help simplify your decision?
That’s exactly what University of Colorado at Boulder police are banking on.
On April 20, an estimated 2,500 CU students participated in “National 4/20 Day” a pro-marijuana-legalization march and get-together held annually.
This year, CU police photographed students in attendance, many of them smoking what appears to be cannabis, others just hanging out. The cops then posted about 150 snapshots online for the world to examine.
CU police are offering a reward of 50 bucks for the identification of individuals in the pictures. Just call the number. Rat your friends out. Win 50 bucks.
According to CU police, “phones have been ringing off the hook.” More than 50 students have been identified.
Since legally it’s impossible to establish that marijuana is actually in those glass bongs, pipes and cigars, the university can only levy a fine for trespassing. After all, there was a “no trespassing” sign at Farrand Field.
Students who are convicted will be fined $100 and a “strike” goes on their record. Certainly, it’s not the end of the world.
No, what’s far more damaging and contemptible is that once authorities plaster the word IDENTIFIED across the snapshot, the student is effectively identified as a criminal.
Without a trial. Or any evidence.
The university might as well have slapped CAUGHT across their faces.
High-profile civil-rights attorney Perry Sanders Jr. was so disturbed by the school’s actions that he took out ads in two local papers promoting his appearance at CU tonight at 6 p.m. (Baur Lounge, Farrand Hall), where he will take part in a session discussing legal ramifications, recourse and possible lawsuits.
“What has been done by taking these pictures is that you’ve put these people into a database and basically turned them into criminals,” explains Sanders in his no-nonsense Southern accent. “I think this is an assault on these people’s First Amendment rights, and, consequently, I think they have recourse, individually or as a group through a class action, to address this. And I think the people responsible for this must be held accountable.”
This episode may have some other more amusing consequences. One CU freshman, for instance, told The Associated Press she was surprised by the Police Department’s reward offer – but understood the economics of accepting.
“But $50 is a sack,” she revealed. “So there’s your incentive.” (For those of you who are, like myself, clueless: A sack is a quantity of marijuana.)
Wouldn’t it be ironic if CU police funds were subsidizing further illicit drug use by those crafty or lucky enough to evade detection? Then again, it would once more illustrate the arbitrary and inept nature of the drug war.
In fact, the CU crackdown ties into a larger issue here in Colorado.
Federal drug czar John Walters was in the state this week. Did you know – or care – that seven Colorado areas exceed the national average for positive workplace marijuana tests?
Yes, Aspen has one of the highest positive test rates at 3.92 percent. Which proves, I suppose, that pot smokers can end up living in ridiculously wealthy resort towns, meeting beautiful people and skiing all day.
Walters, who was also here a couple of months ago, is genuinely concerned about this November’s SAFER initiative, which could make the use and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana legal for adults.
If the SAFER initiative passes, it would, in theory, render tactics such as the one used by CU obsolete, whether the school had good intentions or not.
“What they did was inappropriate,” says Sanders. “Worse, it was done for the sole purpose of having a chilling effect on people’s freedom of assembly and freedom of association. Period.”
Period, indeed.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
