If there were no War on Drugs, drugs could be sold legally anywhere. People could go to the corner store, for instance, to buy their marijuana and other drugs. They would be manufactured safely and distributed with usage recommendations, just like aspirin. They’d also be cheap because in the regular market competition brings prices down when the distributors aren’t jacking their rates due to risk of arrest.
Since unfortunately there IS a War on Drugs, criminal thugs are frequently the only way to acquire the drugs that people are looking for. This is because criminals are the ones most willing to risk arrest to do business. Since people are going to do drugs regardless of their legal status, this puts a lot of buyers in serious danger of being ripped off, or worse. The Keene Sentinel reports on the “or worse” part of drug prohibition. When was the last time the clerk at Walgreens beat the shit out of a customer trying to buy some aspirin?
This is what prohibition gets you:
More details have been released concerning a brutal attack last month at Carpenter Field in Keene, but questions still remain.
Kevin Alley Perry, 21, who is listed as homeless in Keene, was arraigned Monday morning in Keene District Court. He remainsat the Cheshire County jail in Keene for lack of $25,000 cash bail.
He faces two charges of felony first-degree assault in connection with an incident July 24 that left two people — Joshua Abrams, 21, of Keene and his girlfriend Paige Wilson, 18, of Gilsum — battered and bloody in the field.
An affidavit written by Keene police Officer Michael O’Donnell says the two were attacked by Perry and another man.
Abrams told O’Donnell he and Wilson met Perry — who is called “Alley” throughout the report — and an unidentified man and woman at the field July 24, according to the affidavit.
Wilson and Abrams said they knew Perry and considered him a friend, according to the affidavit.
Perry allegedly told Abrams he would “get (him) high and ‘smoke him up,’ ” before holding out an amount of marijuana, Abrams told police, according to the affidavit.
When Abrams lowered his head to look at the drugs more closely, he was struck with a metal object that appeared to be a baseball bat, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit doesn’t give a motive for the attack, and police officials couldn’t be reached for further comment this morning.
Wilson told police she was also hit in the head with the bat, then ran into some brush and fell into nearby Beaver Brook, O’Donnell wrote.
Abrams told police he was hit several more times by Perry and the unidentified man before he ran away. The men started to chase Abrams, but eventually fled in a car, according to the affidavit.
At about 10:15 p.m., Keene police were called to a Marlboro Street address for an unrelated incident.
While en route, O’Donnell saw Abrams staggering into the street, bleeding heavily from his face and head, waving to get the officer’s attention.
The police log from July 24 indicates officers looked for Perry that night in Keene and Swanzey.
On Friday, someone reported seeing him near Wheelock Park at about 7:30 p.m., and he was arrested soon after.
He is scheduled to appear in court again on Aug. 19 for an evidence hearing.
If you don’t want to end prohibition yet, you hate the children. Really. You are subjecting them to danger like this.
