hermiston hotel pot bust

this article (five arrested on pot charges) appeared in the hermiston herald two days ago. this was one of those articles that makes me think that even the dumbest criminals can be worth more than both cops and newspaper columnists.

after being caught smoking marijuana in a hotel room, these five were then arrested. makes sense, right? but what the article doesn't explain is what they did wrong. i mean, i get it, it's not exactly right to smoke weed in a hotel room. if they had been charged with breaking the fire code, that would be one thing. but the problem is that there weren't arrested for smoking weed in the hotel room. between the five of them, the article lists the offenses as: "frequenting a place where controlled substances are used, possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, a Hermiston Municipal Court drug warrant and two outstanding warrants."

so, since when is it illegal to "frequent a place where controlled substances are used"? i understand that it is not necessairly a prudent idea if one wishes to maintain proper social decorum, but how is it something illegal to be charged for? to consider, i once had a neighbor across the hall who sold/produced/used drugs. does that mean that i broke the law by going to watch tv at his place because that was "frequenting" a place where where drugs were used? you can't just make an assumption that someone uses drugs just because they go there often. and even if so, the mere state of being high isn't illegal. ultimately, if cops can charge people with shit like that, they can get away with damn near anything. if employees at my favorite restuarant are spooning coke lines in the walk-in, does that mean everyone in the place is frequenting a place where controlled substances are used? if my mom works in a hospital, does that mean she frequents a place where controlled substances are used? if allowed to stretch the law far enough, just breathing air could be a capitol offense.

as for possession of less than one ounce...is that illegal in this ganja friendly state? well, if so, then i guess the lesson to learn here is to move somewhere like denver. there the cops wouldn't even be allowed to take it away, much less charge one with a crime. that's so trivial, there have got to be more important things for the cops to do.

drug paraphernalia? if it's not illegal for a head shop, even in a podunk place like eastern oregon to sell that crap, why would it be illegal to own it?

and then there was the issue of the warrants. more description would be nice because all i am left with is the assumption that they were wanted for previous drug offenses. the problem there is that prior drug offenses could/are likely to be the same worthless "crimes" they got charged with the other day. seriously, someone needs to keeps authorities more in check by asking realistic questions. that would be nice if the newspaper would be worthy to keep such a balance in place.

ok, done living in idealistic, properly functioning dream land. now back to the real backwards, i mean backwoods, world i live in.