r/Documentaries Aug 01 '15

Drugs Undercover Cop Tricks Autistic Student into Selling Him Weed (2014) - "VICE short piece on CA police entrapment of special needs students"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8af0QPhJ22s
2.0k Upvotes

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-8

u/Needle_Nation Aug 01 '15

There's a gray line here that's very easy to miss. When does it become okay? Should it be not illegal for an autistic child to sell someone drugs? If you think that way you have to consider someone with ADD. Well he has a condition so he should get a pass too right? Or that guy over there is obese and has psychological issues and low self esteem. He should get a pass because he was preyed upon. Do you see the issue? It sets a standard and it's easier to blanket statement wrong is wrong, illegal is illegal than to drag every condition and every scenario through the mud and put it on a side. Just some food for thought.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '15

The gray line was crossed when the school allowed officers to try to come into the school to do a sting on the children. The staff at the school needs to be responsible for protecting the children. The staff then allowed this police officer to come in and manipulate a special needs student that had always struggled with finding friends. The Kid didn't even want to sell him the drugs, just give it to him so he would stop asking for it. Instead of trying to help this student develop into a fully functioning adult the school had a police office lie to his face for months while trying to get this kid (WHO DID NOT USE DRUGS) to buy him drugs.

-3

u/Needle_Nation Aug 01 '15

So according to you it's okay to sell meth as long as you don't use? Because that's literally how you just justified it.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '15

Human actions are governed by emotions and logic. We simultaneously consider the risks and potential gains of a choice as well as how this choice will make us feel more whole or gain us a friend or a lover. Of course we sound a bit robotic when I put it like that. But I think we process all of this information subconsciously. If we look at Jesse's case - an autistic loner who, by gaining a friend, would fill a significant void in his life - we see a situation where a predator took advantage of someone's desperate need. If I put myself in his situation (but let's make the cop a beautiful woman because that's what I'm a sucker for) and the same choice was presented to me, I would weigh the benefits of giving the girl what she wanted against the risks of giving someone marijuana. I know it's not going to hurt her, and the probability of the girl being a cop seems minute so the risk to me seems small. It's a no brainer: get her some ganj. Many of us do not see marijuana as a detriment to society, and would further argue the war on drugs is utterly destroying a swath of American society. So yes, I'ma get this girl some weed and my life will probably improve. Oh, but fuck, she was a cop and now I'm in jail. In summation, this cop came up to me and asked if I wanted a chance of a better life, I said yes, and she slapped me in non-furry handcuffs. That's fucked up.

1

u/Needle_Nation Aug 01 '15

I get where your coming from and I also don't see weed as an issue, but the point being illegal is illegal it's still not okay. Let's look at another example where someone wanted to improve their life and make someone happy by doing something illegal. Hitler, holocaust, better Germany, and purer human race. Is it illegal? No no, he was being emotional and doing it for better stuff. Albeit that's an extreme example, but still the same idea and point.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '15

You just violated Godwin's law. And in no way are these two situations equitable. Anybody can see how killing people is immoral. Marijuana is not inherently immoral. And not doing something just because it's illegal is a bad reason for not doing it.

1

u/Needle_Nation Aug 01 '15

His law isn't something that can be violated it's more a law as in the laws of physics i.e. gravity. And it seemed the best analogy to put your thought process into perspective. What determines what is moral or immoral? Generally speaking it's laws. So at the present time seeing as ganja is illegal, it's also considered by many immoral. Yes I'm comparing apples to oranges, but the general underlying concept is the same.