Little Plastic Baggies To Be Banned?

By Margaret Lyons in News on Mar 4, 2008 8:49PM

The latest weapon in Chicago's war on drugs may be banning the little plastic bags some drugs come in. No, really. Alderman Robert Fioretti wants to restrict the sale of "self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width."

Apparently only one alderman on the Health Committee found anything remotely strange about this ban. "I just want to make sure that we don’t — how do you say it — bite off your head in spite of your nose," said Alderman Walter Burnett.

Lots of stuff comes in those little bags. Jewelry, if we recall correctly the elastic bands that go on braces, buttons, small crafts, bathsalt sample packs, just to name a few. The law would fine vendors who sell baggies when "one reasonably should know" that the bags are being used for drug-selling purposes.

This is a proud day for Chicago politics indeed. Because we all know there's nothing
like a difficult-to-enforce, bullshit law that relies on things people "reasonably should know" to keep drugs off the streets. [S-T]