(Athens Banner-Herald) An extremely drunk man passed out early Sunday morning in the lobby of the Comfort Suites on North Avenue, said Athens-Clarke police.
The 32-year-old man was found at 2:35 a.m. on the floor with his pants around his ankles, asleep in a pool of his own urine, according to a police report.
When police woke him up, he became abusive and was arrested for public intoxication, the report said.
My first thought: You never read any news headlines about passed-out potheads with their pants down in public. We’ll accept as legal a drug that has this effect on people, but we must lock up the people who sit at home and fire up a bong while watching TV at 2:30am instead of passing out in hotel lobbies.
My second thought: Isn’t it interesting how the 32-year-old man’s name isn’t mentioned in this news piece. Want to bet that if it were a marijuana possession offense, we’d know his name, middle initial, and home address by now?
My third thought: The crime he’s charged with is a misdemeanor that will at most net him 60 days in jail and a $500 fine, but it’s very likely he won’t do any jail time at all. If he’d been caught with a joint in a hotel lobby, he’d lose his driver’s license for six months and be forced to complete a drug rehab program. If it wasn’t his first time caught with a joint, it’s all that plus a year in prison and $1000 fine. Which of these two people do you think should get some counseling and shouldn’t be driving – the guy with the joint, or the guy passed out piss-drunk in the hotel lobby?
My final thought: If the guy had cancer, AIDS, MS, glaucoma, or epilepsy and had been caught with over an ounce, he’d be a felon and subject to up to 10 years in prison (20 if he’s with 1000 feet of a school, plus four more if he used a cell phone.)
