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Mountain View police arrested nine people for drug-related offenses late last month after they were allegedly caught selling controlled substances at a Phish concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre.
Suspects from all over the state and the country were arrested at the venue on July 24 for the sale and transportation of Ecstasy, LSD and psilocybin, or hallucinogenic mushrooms, as well as marijuana, according to police spokesperson Shino Tanaka. Officers were conducting narcotics enforcement at the time of the concert, Tanaka said.
Arrests include 35-year-old Justin Fain of Blue Lake, 37-year-old James Philips of Oakland, [name removed,] 37-year-old Robert Bales of San Francisco, 30-year-old Kevin Dunn of Weimar and 38-year-old Thomas Lefebvre from Vermont who were all charged with possession and sale of a controlled substance.
Todd Jackson, a 36-year-old man from Cajon, California was also arrested for possession and sale of LSD as well as delaying a police officer when he tried to pull away from police during the arrest.
Jason Shoeppner, a 29-year-old transient man, was arrested for possession of marijuana for sale and possession of LSD.
Melissa Downes, a 23-year-old woman from Los Olivos, was arrested on two counts of possession and sale or transportation of LSD as well as conspiracy to traffic narcotics after she allegedly attempted to sell her drugs for a concert ticket.
All nine of the arrested were booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail.
Tanaka said the enforcement of drug laws at Shoreline Amphitheatre was to avoid having concert attendees overdose on the drugs, and that people who are under the influence of the psychedelic drugs tend to be more susceptible to thefts or assaults.
” If we can assist in preventing these in any way, we will do what we can,” Tanaka said.
Catching drug dealers at a Phish concert must be like shooting phish in a barrel
As I have said before…bulldoze Shoreline.
To clarify previous comment, I meant bulldoze Shoreline Amphitheatre…not Shoreline park!!!!
The police should not have to state a reason for enforcing all of the laws.
It was stated in the article that they enforced the drug law to save people for buying drugs, it’s not legal to buy drugs so the buyers should also be arrested. Do this enough and it will soon be know that Mountain View is not a place for drugs, probably take a year or so.
Stick enforcement of all laws including traffic laws is needed here in Mountain View.
“…people who are under the influence of the psychedelic drugs tend to be more susceptible to thefts or assaults.”
Sad but unsurprising that the MV Voice should serve as stenographers for police and repeat something so ludicrous without any pushback. The police actually claim with a straight face that they harass and arrest people engaged in consensual behavior in order to *protect* those poor drug users from overdose, theft and assault. Orwell much?
The targeted drugs are all quite valuable healing tools, as well. Steve Jobs said that taking LSD was one of the most important and valuable experiences of his life. You think his life would have been improved if the cops had arrested him? MDMA (Ecstasy) is such a powerful healing tool that the U.S. Army is fighting to have it available for its veterans with PTSD. Psilocybin mushrooms appear to actually rebuild damaged brain cells, and show promise for a wide variety of conditions including depression and cluster headaches. Cannabis, of course, can help alleviate literally *hundreds* of mental & physical conditions.
Most people with experience with these substances, even in a “recreational” setting like a concert, know them to be extremely wonderful at facilitating profound, often transcendent experiences. In a “free” society, cognitive freedom is a basic human right.
The War on (Some) Drugs is a crime against humanity for so many reasons, including the fact it empowers police to use guns & violence (which is what an arrest is) against adults at concerts engaged in entirely victimless behavior. [Please don’t try to claim that arrests are warranted because someone can theoretically die from illegal drug use unless you also support criminal penalties against liquor store owners for the 50,000+ deaths from alcohol each year.]
Rodger: Your notion that “enforcing the drug laws” would lead to a drug-free Mountain View is an ahistorical fantasy easily debunked by an examination of the last 50 years of draconian drug policy. The War on (Some) Drugs has a 100% failure rate in quashing illegal drug availability.