[Noisebridge-discuss] Use of Nitrous Oxide in the space on Sunday night

[Susan Werner]

Here's a framework I came up with to look at drug use in a space like 
noisebridge:

1. Disruptiveness of the drug use and likelihood of legal consequences / cops 
being called. This isn't about the legality of the drug use -- this is trying
to minimize the likelihood of the police and the law being involved in cases
that don't go beyond people using drugs. 

2. The degree to which the people doing drugs are also involved in hacking shit 
at the same time -- this differentiates between people using drugs while 
hacking on stuff and people using noisebridge solely as a place to do drugs.

3. How hostile and exclusionary to others space is made due to the drug use. If
your drug use is making people (especially newcomers) unwelcome to the space, I
(and others!) have an issue with that.

Notice that none of this tripartite test involve trying to police what kind of 
drugs people can and cannot do at noisebridge -- it is solely an analysis based
on the actions taken by the people doing drugs, and the consequences of said
actions.

This is it being applied to the case in question:

1. the whippit use was obviously happening and hard to ignore -- this is not 
the case of someone taking some drugs and then went to the space while still 
being on the influence of them and did things that did not end up being 
disruptive. Doing whippits for hours is gonna end up loud and disruptive. 

Furthermore, it was illegal and therefore could have gotten noisebridge in 
trouble, as well as getting police called to the space (which could have gotten
*even more* people in trouble). Don't do dumb shit that'll get the cops called
to noisebridge, please. 

Note that this is only an issue given the nitrous use was incredibly obvious to 
the point of being disruptive. Someone who does not make it obvious and 
impossible to ignore that they are doing drugs does not run into this issue.

2. The people doing it were not doing anything related to hacking at the time. 

3. The people using whippits were making noisebridge an actively /hostile/ 
space for a handful of people.

-- 
Su``whee''san

On Oct 10 12:07, Sean Cusack <sean.p.cusack at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think in this instance, there is a big difference between drugs and
> booze. Namely, the door-getting-kicked-in factor.
> 
> If the door gets kicked in, and people are drinking booze, no one gets in
> trouble as long as those drinking booze are over 21, and some measures have
> been taken to ensure only people over 21 years of age have been served.
> If the door gets kicked in, and people are doing a drug that is currently
> illegal in California, Noisebridge is going to get in trouble.
> 
> No one person may agree with the way certain substances are classified by
> the government, however they are laws. Until we can find a way to change
> that, I think a good tactic to combat those doing something illegal in the
> space is to remind people that doing illegal substances in the space may
> cause the space to get shut down for the hackers that love it dearly.
> 
> Hope that helps...happy anniversary Noisebridge!
> Sean
> 
> On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 11:55 AM, Clarence Beeks
> <clarencebeeks7 at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 11:37 AM, maestro <maestro415 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> duplicate msg. >>>
> >>
> >> On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 11:32 AM, maestro <maestro415 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> *> I got into a small disagreement with someone tonight and found that
> >>> ultimately he (and friends) felt whippets > were legal (they're not, except
> >>> strict medical use), 100% safe, and since alcohol was being served I should
> >>> > be upset about that too.*
> >>> *
> >>> *
> >>> they're right.
> >>> it's not up to anyone to say "oh, this drug is fine @NB but THIS one not
> >>> at all."
> >>>
> >>> if it's fine for someone to drink booze at the space, then it's fine for
> >>> me or anyone else to drink electric kool-aid, morning glory, ayuhuasca, or
> >>> anything else and take anything else.
> >>>
> >>
> > I don't agree with this at all
> >
> > Enjoying a few alcoholic beverages in the space is a lot different than a
> > bunch of guys in the corner abusing nitrous.
> >
> > ## unexcellent
> >