Couple law related questions?

[portaplaya]

Many laws are about intent. If you have an entire case of Purewhip and no dairy, you have not broken the law (yet) but may be providing probably cause in the eyes of the LEO. Enjoy the search that entails (or the surveillance).

If he/she sees you sucking on a charger the intent is much more apparent. And, as Pecho shows, sucking NO2 with intent to become intoxicated is a crime in Nevada.

I would suggest that there are likely people that break the laws on drug possession and drug use on the playa each year. Certainly there are reasons that some get caught and some do not. Whatever you intend to do, always try to make smart choices. There are consequences in both the real world and at Burning Man.

[cablemonkey]

1. Can you be charged on the playa with DUI for riding a bike after having a few drinks? (within reason, obviously you wouldn't want to attempt riding a bike absolutely mangled for your safety or others). Might sound like a silly question, but I know the local police here in Toronto issue moving violations which count towards your drivers record for people on bikes that run stop signs or red lights, ride there bikes drunk, etc.

One word of caution regarding drunken cycling, with the caveat that I didn't witness this first-hand, but the person that told me the story did, and I trust them: Nevada is apparently the kind of place where if you're visibly or obviously impaired and you injure yourself - in this case it was a drunken bike crash that resulted in some minor lacerations, split lip, etc., - ambulance providers can use force, detain and chemically restrain you, and force you to accept medical care until you sober up.

As the story was told to me by my friend, he was chatting with some REMSA folks one evening, and the bike crash happened more or less in front of them. The participant was obviously totally shitfaced, and was a little cut up. He wanted to get back on his bike and leave, but the REMSA attendants had other plans. When he refused their directions to lie in the dust and be assessed, they tackled him and then injected Haldol in to his shoulder. They then strapped him to a board and took him to the clinic in the ambulance.

So, I guess the caution here is to not crash in front of over-zealous ambulance attendants when you're hammered? Or at least to be aware that if you do hurt yourself when intoxicated, that you legally lose the ability to make decisions regarding your own health and welfare in Nevada.

There's a new ambulance service provider on the playa this year. Perhaps they won't be as enthusiastic about such things.

[theCryptofishist]

I don't think they are "new" in the sense you're talking about. I think they are REMSA under a different name.
Cannot confirm.

[capjbadger]

I don't think they are "new" in the sense you're talking about. I think they are REMSA under a different name.
Cannot confirm.

Nope...

REMSA - Reno Emergency Medical Services Association. No longer our medical service provider.
HGH – Humboldt General Hospital. Our medical services provider.

'Course the joke will be "Human Growth Hormone".

-Badger

[Foxfur]

http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/5204 ... is-cocaine
If you're gonna drink and bike, do a rail before hitting the trail...
Always helpful,
Foxfur

[Igneouss]

I'll add a comment to this thread. Pot is a particular risk:

Odor is cause. If a LEO smells pot they can search any and all people in the immediate 'space' or 'area'. The law (more or less) is intended to allow LEO to search a 'room' were pot is detected. These terms are not well defined as applied to BM but clearly include areas like a bar, or dome, or a personal campsite.

This in turn means that if folks are smoking pot in a bar that EVERYBODY in the bar is at risk of being searched. Similarly, if LEO detects odor coming from a tent then they might search the tent and search other elements of the immediate personal campsite, such as packs and coolers and possibly your parked vehicle.

Another scenario would be a group of people on the open playa. LEO detects odor and ALL members of the group could be subject to search.

The simple answer is to not smoke pot at BM.

On entrapment: My sense is that the vast majority of cases represented by lawyers for burners get dismissed. It's harder to know how many people that get charged simply pay the fines etc (or plead a lesser offense etc) and move on rather than fight the charges. I know that if I got charged it would probably be far more costly to fight it than to simply pay a fine (I'm not local so the simple cost of traveling to appear in court would be prohibitive for example).

[Sic Pup]

This is why the good lord inventing brownies or was it that Crocker broad?. One of the two.