$1,500 Fine for Tiny Plastic Bags

The City of Chicago is considering a law banning tiny plastic bags because drug dealers use them for transporting and selling small amounts of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, crack, and methamphetamine.

Of course! That’s the answer! Ban the little tiny bags and the dealers won’t have anything to transport their drugs in! Why didn’t anyone think of this before?

It’s the Question of the Day at The Capitol Fax Blog (on my Daily reads list – great for Illinois state politics!).

The Chicago Sun Times has this:

Lt. Kevin Navarro, commanding officer of the Chicago Police Department’s Narcotics and Gang Unit, said the ordinance will be an “important tool” to go after grocery stores, health food stores and other businesses. The bags are used by the thousand to sell small quantities of drugs at $10 or $20 a bag.

Navarro referred to the plastic bags as “Marketing 101 for the drug dealers.” Many of them have symbols, allowing drug users to ask for “Superman” or “Blue Dolphin” instead of the drug itself, he said.

I don’t know about you, but I am very scared by Lt. Navarro. He wants to go after grocery stores, health food stores, and other businesses?

And grocery stores, health food stores, and other businesses are involved in the selling of illegal drugs in what capacity?

I use these little tiny bags all the time. I use them to hold and ship jewelry, to hold beads and gemstones, to sort buttons and hold and store many craft items.

I also use them for my children’s medication when we go on day trips or on longer trips. Doses can be easily separated by time to be taken and child and take up so much less room than medicine bottles. The little bags can easily be carried in a pocket or wallet, try that with prescription bottles. I use them for several doses of over the counter analgesics too. It’s a lot easier to carry a tiny bag with 2 or 3 doses of Excedrin Migraine than it is to carry the 100-pill bottle around.

This is so incredibly stupid that I can hardly believe it’s true, except that it’s Chicago and that explains a lot.