Life’s a beach, and then you’re high. This was perhaps the credo of a group of young New York City lifeguards who were busted smoking weed over the Independence Day holiday while they sat in a car during their lunch break.
Reports indicate that six city beach attendants had apparently gone off on a Fourth of July safety meeting when a nosey officer with the New York City Police Department swooped in and caught them giving a demonstration on how to resuscitate a drowning joint – just in case it gets fish lipped, we suppose.
While there is no better way, in our opinion, to pay homage to freedom in this country than smoking a blue-collar blunt on a day when most of America is enjoying a day off work, these patriotic philosophies are obviously not shared by the troops down at the NYPD. No sir – while the officer could have opted to issue a citation for the burning joint and simply force the high lifeguards to pay a fine, he decided to go in for the kill and unleash a savage seek and destroy mission.
It did not take long before additional hounds of the drug war were at the scene, and soon a search of the 2002 Suburban belonging to a 17-year-old lifeguard was underway. However, despite their valiant efforts, officers did not manage to make some large bust that will undoubtedly throttle the city of New York into a vicious marijuana dry spell. Instead, they found an undetermined amount of weed in a baggie and a pipe with traces of residue sitting in plain sight inside the console.
Unfortunately, that was enough. The owner of the vehicle was arrested and charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance as well as possession of drug paraphernalia. None of the other guards received any charges, but the raucous stirred the proverbial shit pot with their employer, the New York City Parks Department.
In a statement issued by the Parks Department, it does not appear as though any of the guards were terminated as a result from their run in with the law, but that did not stop a couple of them from turning in their rescue tubes. “Two of the lifeguards have resigned, “a representative for the Parks Department told DNAinfo New York. “We are also investigating the circumstances behind this incident.”
This is a perfect example of how the war on drugs confounds the big picture when it comes to criminal activity in this country. Incidentally, while the NYPD was out bullying teenagers on the Fourth of July for pot possession, 12 people were shot – three fatally – all across the city. In fact, shootings in the Big Apple are reportedly up 8 percent since the end of June.
Ultimately, officers should be embarrassed to escort teenage girls to jail because of little weed, while law-biding citizens are at risk for being murdered.
Mike Adams writes for stoners and smut enthusiasts in High Times, Playboy’s The Smoking Jacket and Hustler Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @adamssoup and on Facebook/mikeadams73.