(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . I think all 3 Spidermans & all 3 actors would agree with me [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-09-13 Written 07/13/2022 phezisms Maybe not all the actors would agree or the Spider-Man’s. Who knows. The Drug War. It is a way to incarcerate non-violent, poor, impoverished humans, disproportionately NON WHITE humans, and bleed them dry of their money, hope and dreams. Makes me sick. The lies that are spread about marijuana. FUCK yall. Remember DARE? I had to do it twice, because I moved a lot, and I could easily sniff out the bullshit when I was 12. Truly embarrassing. My parents worked with a school for awhile and they had this “drug presentation”. They spread bullshit lies about weed and then passed around REAL WEEd (OH MY GOD) and said “Don’t take any because we weigh it before and after". SURE. My dad accidentally spilled the whole jar everywhere. Man, I wish I could have been there to see those lying pigs faces. As a white women, I wasn’t incarcerated when I got arrested for weed in 2004. However, the drug war did snuff out my dreams 10 years after. Here is the story. In 2004, in Manhattan, KS, Kansas State University, I was 18. I turned 19 in November of 2004 but I think I was 18 when I was arrested. I was working fast food. Two co-workers of mine (we didn't "hang" out because they were seniors in high school and I was a freshman in college, but we would chill after work for a little bit). I don't make a habit of being friends with high schoolers. However, I graduated at age 17, so was always youngest in my classes. We sat in a truck and smoked weed after work. Little did we know, another coworker called the cops, assuming she knew our plan, then she took pictures of us when we got arrested from across the street and laughed at us. Anyways, cops came up to the truck. All they found was a roach and maybe a seed. The cops were rude and I actually asked them to stop making me feel worse than I already did, and they actually shut up and seemed to be sorry. Whatever. I hadn't watched enough Law & Order apparently. I could have easily just kept my mouth closed, demanded a lawyer, but I'm an idiot and said it was mine. Ugh, what was wrong with me. Wasn't even "technically" mine, we were sharing of course. To this day I wish I had swallowed this roach. Of course we were all fired and I never saw them again. I assume they got juvenile Diversions or something, but who knows. I got a diversion. That means NO CONVICTIONS. I successfully and easily completed the diversion. I wasn't a drug addict, I was a good student who liked smoking plants. I had to pay $100s in fines, do community service, have a drug and alcohol evaluation and further treatment if necessary. One place I did the community service made me wear an orange vest and ordered me not to talk to anyone. Like I'm a pedophile or something. So I did not have any convictions on my record, I was able to continue getting federal student loans no problem. I still do today for my 3rd degree I'm earning. After I graduated college in 2007 with a Bachelors in Psychology, I moved to Seattle, WA and did Americorps for a year, I worked overseas for a year, then I moved to Chicago and got my Masters of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Jane Addams College of Social Work, which is respected. 4.0 GPA, and Student Government President, and I delivered the student address at graduation. My education cost me over 3x my largest salary as a Masters level Social Worker. Then I moved back to Kansas in 2013. I am a licensed in Kansas. Fast forward 10 years from my diversion, to 2014, age 28/29, I was hired at my dream job. For this dream job I had to do work with Juvenile corrections and take a background check. I got a call saying I had a "Felony Drug Conviction" on my record. They didn't care what I had to say. I called the KBI (Kansas Bureau of Investigation) who actually admitted that my record was INCORRECT and it did not have my diversion on the background check properly. So they admitted it was their fault. Of course they didn't do anything for me though. My dream job didn't care and they fired me. They wouldn't even run it again. In Kansas, you can get fired for anything at all. I was completely devastated. I lost all passion for my dream that day, and have never gotten it back. I worked at a well-known healthcare facility that claims to help women. I respected them, even donated to them. They are still a needed presence, but I will never respect, donate to, and/or attend any event for them again. They even threatened me with legal action when I posted on social media about getting fired even though I did NOT use their name and just said healthcare facility. I don't even use Facebook or Twitter anymore, ever. So a roach ruined my dream job, ruined my dreams, 10 years after I got a DIVERSION for "possession of a roach" HAHA. Seriously, though. It really sucked. 2022, and I still don't have that passion anymore. I am a white woman, and I am very privileged in this society because of that. Who knows how much more it would have sucked if I wasn't white. Honestly, most incidents I've had with police are negative, and I have lots of negative stories from friends and family. In 2016, I crashed and totaled my car (the people in front of me stopped dead in a merge lane, their car had zero damage, nothing even went to my insurance). I was bruised, disoriented, an airbag hit me, all the cop cared about was me moving my car even more over, and basically just hounded me, harassed me about it, I didn't even know what was happening. He was an asshole and gave me a ticket. Thanks for the compassion douchebag! In 2014/early 2015 also, probably right after the time I was fired, I was in a hit and run, guy hit me, but I was still able to drive and follow him. Called 911 and using my call they caught the guy. Turned out he was a domestic violence offender, sexual abuse, arson. At one point in the chase, he stopped his car and beat on my windows and tried to open my door. He would have severely injured me if he had gotten in. Probably not wise of me to follow him, but fuck, I was tired of people getting away with shit. Well I still had to pay $500 to get the car fixed (because of course he stole that car so no one else's insurance had to pay for it). They had me testify at his trial, didn't prep me, didn't even question me, and I got a check for $10. I felt like a jackass at court, they played the entire video and everyone heard me screaming when he tried to attack me. OH YEAH you are WELCOME for catching a violent predator/rapist/arsonist. He fucking lit a woman on fire. He gets away with damaging my car, pays for nothing, threatens to injure/harm/even kill? me and who knows what happened at the trial. I remember hearing another witness practically crying (she had been the victim of rape and abuse by the perpetrator). So at least I felt good that he was apprehended. Every time a cop is behind me, I tense up, no matter what, and one time it made me turn into a one way street accidentally and I got another ticket. It has inspired me to do research on the number of accidents or traffic violations due to anxiety, cops being near you, following you, etc. And as suspected, the results are obvious. So all in all I guess it wasn't that "big of a deal" but it did suck and changed my life, goals, direction, who knows. And WHO KNOWS how this 2004 roach smoking will affect me going forward. Maybe my record is messed up again? Who knows! Can't wait to find out! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/13/2192573/-I-think-all-3-Spidermans-all-3-actors-would-agree-with-me Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/