I went to a .moe concert once.....I think I was the only one there NOT smoking pot...not directly anyhow. Basically, any "jam-band" is going to have this kind of behavior and now the govt. wants to get a little more revenue to pay the "interest man" in China. http://reason.com/blog/2012/10/10/your-government-making-rock-concerts-ill
It I am not familiar with the statutes under which the "offence" was committed, but it would seem that the likely original intent was to prosecute among other things actual criminal acts in relation to the use of premises as drug labs, shooting galleries, crack houses and opium dens. This case is an example of one of the darker aspects of the coercive power of prosecutorial plea bargaining. The prosecution dangles the barbed wire of pleading guilty to a somewhat lesser charge with the guaranteed outcome of relative ruination, as a tempting alternative to pleading innocent with the uncertain outcome of vindication, as opposed to utter ruination if succesfully prosecuted. It this feature of the law that can be abused by government agencies and it is in some senses a legal method of extorting money from (sometimes innocent) people without the prosecution having its case tested by the trial process. It is a system that has some merits, but on the down side, it can serve some clients, and the public at large poorly when prosecutors and defence counsel become lazy and see plea bargaining as an easy way of getting a quick resolution. If the law is consistently applied, then it would be equitable to prosecute political parties /candidates for the drug use that takes place within the premises that they own, hire, let, or otherwise have the control of. Is that ever likely to happen? Pretty unlikely I would suppose, though it would be nice to see.
Personally I see both sides of this issue. I have no problem with grass alone. However if you choose to be a dealer for monitary gain of an illegal substance you have to accept the consequences of your actions if caught and convicted. Crying foul is just sour grapes for those individuals. Does anyone believe the owner of this property was not condoning the actions of his paid guests (or unpaid if this was a free event), by ignoring the use of an illegal substance? If it was a paid event, and a reoccuring event, word would get out of what was allowed previously. The problem of illegal substance use would greatly multiply in future events as well as word spreading to the local gestapo. Look, I break some laws, but I am fully aware of the consequences and ready to accept them or challenge them in court if caught. There are so many stupid and rarely enforced laws on the books it is ridiculous! The use of grass and possession of small quanities is on the ballots of a few states this year. I don't expect much in the way of change over the status quo. Additionally if other worse drugs were in use at this event and anyone had died or was permanently injured due to use, I would not have a problem with the authorities cracking down hard and trying to convict the dealers of the hard drugs.
It's an expansion of the old Bawdy house statutes... I've used them in the past to stop a Motel from acting as a continuing criminal enterprise zone.... (in 2 years this facility had in excess of 300 police calls for drugs, prostitution, public drunkeness, assaults, rapes, and the odd murder... we informed the owner that the DA was willing to use this old (1850's law to confiscate his property unless he cleaned up his act... calls for service dropped to around 50 a year the first year and down to 30 the second...
Is there such a thing as a music concert that DOESN'T have people smoking weed? The first time I got stoned was with my church youth group at an Amy Grant concert, and it was on second hand smoke.
Implementation of unjust laws is arbitrary anyway (each day, any of us are culpable of violating some law from somewhere). So I don't expect this being enforced in all concerts. Just several to make examples of. Perhaps the furor from such a dumb law will lead to legalization. We hope.
