The numbers from this year’s Burning Man are in, and they’re not pretty.
Arrests at this year’s event are estimated to be at least 600% greater than the previous year, and nearly more than the previous five years combined. Compared to 2014’s 7 arrests, 41 people were arrested this year, the majority for “trafficking of a controlled substance.” Such a charge is rarely a surprise to outsiders or those at the Burn, but rarely are so many people arrested for it – compare it to last year’s numbers when only 4 people were arrested on drug-related charges. At an where drug use is very common year to year, law enforcement’s duty and focus should be on those disturbing the peace, rather than those looking to expand their minds.
The second highest charge this year was for “possession of a controlled substance for sales” and then a litany of other less grievous charges, all between 1-3 arrests each. One arrest was even for kidnapping. One significant figure pointed out is the absence of any sexual assault charges this year, “a huge improvement on 2013, when there were 12 people taken to jail for that crime.”
From the
New York Times:
Scores of law enforcement
officers meted out more than 600 citations and arrested dozens of people
— nearly all of them for possession of controlled substances, like the
hallucinogenic drugs that can make frolicking in scanty costumes in the
desert seem like a kaleidoscopic adventure. In other words, the party
may have ended, but for the local courts, lawyers and busted
participants, the headache begins…More than 40 of the revelers, known as
Burners, were arrested, according to the sheriff’s office of Pershing
County, the rural pocket of northwest Nevada where the festival takes
place. The citation fines range from $100 to $500, said Rudy Evenson, a
spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that
shares policing responsibilities for the event with the sheriff’s
office. Misdeeds ranged from environmental ones, like improper dumping,
to drug use and possession.
That's what happens when you turn down a request for a million dollar facility by BLM law enforcement, including trailers, flush toilets, washers and dryers and vanity mirrors. Also included was a 24-hour, full-service kitchen with a menu of "10-ounce steaks, 18-ounce pork ribs, poultry, ham, fish, vegetables, potatoes, bread, salad bar with five toppings and three dressings and desserts." And those desserts? Specifically they had to include "assorted ice cream flavors, Popsicles and ice cream sandwiches, as well as cakes, cookies, pies, cobblers, puddings and pastries." See here and here.
The rule here seems pretty simple: If they don't get their pork ribs, potatoes and popsicles, you don't get your pot. No cobblers, no cannabis. No steaks, no stash. Six hundred tickets prove the rule.
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