Gay Elderly Couple Cited For Smoking in San Fran
(cop probably would have pissed himself if he didn't site them, stupid ass!!!)
Last Sunday, a gay San Francisco couple went to their usual spot, the Jane Warner Plaza in the Castro district, to medicate. The couple and medical marijuana patients, Robert Blitzer, 66 and Xenry, 63, have been smoking in this area for the past three years without any sort of disturbance.
Both men are proper medical cannabis patients: Xenry suffers pain from an abdominal bypass while Blitzer has severe glaucoma. They were keeping to themselves and attempting to relax and ease their respective pains. That is, until a police officer spotted the pair smoking a joint and confronted them.
Blitzer said they have a home nearby on States Street and consider the plaza “our living room in the Castro.” He said they had been smoking medical marijuana in the plaza since it began as a temporary installment in 2009.
He said that Sunday, San Francisco Police Officer Matt Loya asked them if what they were smoking was tobacco, and Blitzer responded that it was marijuana. He said that Loya checked their medical marijuana ID cards and their drivers’ licenses and spent half an hour with them.
“People around us were horrified,” Blitzer said. “… They couldn’t believe a senior citizen couple was being harassed for smoking medical marijuana.” [The Bay Area Reporter]
Yes, smoking in the park is, unbeknownst to the couple, “prohibited.” So they now face at most, a minor fine of $100. But should they even have been apprehended in the first place?
Like drinking alcohol in public, authorities and legislators have an obvious concern about marijuana smoke either reaching the youth or simply filling up the air in public spaces. It’s understandable that they make this legislation. But it should be enforced with a slight hand, not an iron fist.
If the smoke isn’t bothering anyone–and no one asks this couple or anyone–to cease smoking, then what’s the point of accosting them. Yes, couple’s punishment for their “infraction” is slight, but they will not be spared the embarassment they now feel. And the couple will certainly no longer view this space as their “living room” by any stretch of the imagination.
Plus, is spending a half hour to cite and belittle a sick, gay couple in their mid-60s really the best use of a police man’s time?
Image via Flickr
Article at:
http://www.marijuana.com/news/2012/03/gay-elderly-couple-cited-for-smoking-in-san-fran/
No comments:
Post a Comment