Watching an episode of “COPS” (American ‘reality tv’ show where our real life police are followed and filmed as they go on patrol and some of the people/situations they encounter) somebody was stopped and their car searched and they had what looked very much like a snuff box (but theirs filled with illegal drugs) and a baggy of telltale green herb was pulled out of the car and of course in my nasal snuff-obsessed current status I naturally wondered anybody ever been pulled over by the police, had your car searched, had a snuffbox of nasal snuff or a bag of tobacco, etc and had this questioned and had to explain? Can’t say I’ve ever had (knock on wood) I did read somewhere (was it here even?) of smoebody being accused of ‘sniffing brown herion’ (but wasn’t an officer, was apparently a civilian observer) any interesting interactions with law authorities (or anyone else for that matter) as a result of your sniffing habit, or having it misunderstood? (note: lets try to not stray to the political talk in here too much, there’s at least one other really good thread for that) EDIT - to add a related question: I wonder what drug rehab places do with smokers, do they make people quit smoking along with everything else? I wonder what a drug rehab place would do if somebody brought in bullets or tins of snuff (“Intervention” TV show inspired question)
I was the one who was accused of snorting “brown heroin” by a stoner doofus in a bar. The guy obviously had no idea what real brown heroin looks like or how it is snorted. I would think that even your average beat cop would know that much. I’ve received a few odd looks from a few other strangers, but that is about it. I’m always happy to explain that it is tobacco, nasal snuff, etc. if someone asks, but very few people do. I believe there are a couple of police officers who post regularly at this forum, and I would be interested in what they have to say about this. They are probably the only two cops in North America who have ever heard of and use nasal snuff, but I certainly wouldn’t expect other cops to know what it is, much less react reasonably or nicely over it. I’ve wondered if any cop would go as far as hauling someone in over this “suspicious substance.” Yes, you could get the situation straightened out eventually, but who wants to go through that kind of hassle? I admit that I have had enough negative experiences with American cops to have a healthy distrust of them. As for drug rehab centers and smoking, I once visited a friend who spent some time in a rehab center. It seemed to me that virtually every patient there was smoking like a chimney. I’ve heard that smoking is/was quite prevalent at AA meetings as well. I don’t know what people at these things do these days, what with so many smoking bans in place. I suppose they congregate in smoke cloud clusters outdoors, just like you see outside every bar and club.
I’ve had: - One stoner that followed me to a public bathroom thinking i had something else in my tin that he might buy. - Quite a few mall/pub/etc security people that did everything starting with asking nicely and ending up with pretty much harassment about the RYO i was smoking. - One granny giving me “the look” when i was rolling up a few smokes while sitting on a bus. - Countless friends disgusted by my snus habit :). Commercial smokes are the norm , everything else is odd over here.
Well I’ve never had run-ins with police over snuff or tins, but I did put myself in rehab to help me with my alcoholism and I can tell you that 95% of the people in there were well stocked with tobacco. Every hour we had a break so we could go have a cigarette, and when it was a really stressful day, there were always cans of chew going around. As for snuff, not many people in Utah partake in it, but I know for a fact that bullets would not have been allowed, and its quite possible that snuff wouldn’t have been allowed either. With all the drugs that sniffed, it’d have been hard to tell who was sniffing drugs and who was sniffing snuff. A room full of addicts sitting around sniffing stuff with runny noses would just be too much for the counselors to take and leaves too many possibilities.
There was a commenter on a recent BBC article about snuff who said they’d spent a night in jail when officers arrested him on suspicion of trafficking heroin, but was released the next day. I’ve never had an issue, although I don’t often take snuff in public. If someone was giving me a real hard time (mall or school security and the like) I think I’d just tell them to call the cops and ask them to bring a field test for heroin or whatever else they were accusing me of using. In the US, I imagine it’d be simple enough. Cops come, guy says he thinks I’m blowing heroin or coke or whatever, I tell them they can test a sample from any of my tins I may have, test comes back negative and I go on my way. British cops don’t have to deal with quite the same madness officers do here concerning lawsuits, so I imagine they’d be more inclined to just arrest me. Here, if a cop arrested me after I’d let him test whatever he wanted to his hearts content, I imagine I might have a fair shot at securing financing for the rest of my college education.
I take pride in being as counter-cultural as possible, so I couldn’t care less what anybody thinks about my in public snuff or snus taking. Most people do not hassle people who look like me; it isn’t worth it. Scuff yourself up a little, grow your hair to shoulder length, use a beard trimmer to maintian about 1/8 inch of stubble, trim down to about 170 lbs. so you look like a member of “The Westies” back in the day, and practise “The Stare.” Most people will be glad that you have your fist pressed to your nose instead of their’s. As far as the police go, you should never consent to be searched or allow a search of your property, including your car, under any circumstances. If they have probable cause they’ll search you anyway, but just shut up and let them do their worst and then fight it out in court. With all due respect, Stand Up for Your Rights.
I’ve posted regarding a situation where I was forced to leave a volunteer food bank because I was seen sniffing a suspicious powder. The director wouldn’t listen to me and refused to look at the Poschl box I held up for display. I’ve also had people think I was tooting drugs in restaraunts and gotten the dirty stare from an old lady when I took a line of snuff off the back of my hand at a store. I attended a VA 28 day in-patient substance abuse program and carried and used nasal snuff the entire time. We were drug tested daily so none of the staff really cared about it and readily accepted my explanation that it was tobacco. Then again it was the VA so they don’t really care about anything. I did refrain from using a bullet or sniffing during the NA meetings out of respect to the drug addicts present who might have found it to be a trigger for their cravings. I am also a retired Police Sgt. and have worked the streets as well as undercover narcotics. At the time I knew only vaguely of snuff and brought a can of Garret to the station once but no one cared. A few old timers knew what it was but at the time I was using it orally. I never came across nasal snuff during my career. Illegal powder substances are not usually found in 10 or 20 gram tins or plastic flip top boxes. Only dealers and mules would carry anything more than a tiny ziplock baggy full and even then they would have to be pretty stupid to brandish it about. The average ‘dope user’ doesn’t have tons of money and would only be carrying far less than a gram. Powdered substances I saw ranged anywhere from clear ice crystals, to white, to red, to brownish or tan, and just about any combination thereof depending on what it was, how it was made and what it was cut with. Some police have field test kits to detect the presence of opiates, meth, cocaine, or even LSD. Due to the cost we rarely carried them with us though. If you get jacked up by an overzealous rookie who thinks your snuff is actually meth or something illegal then in Texas you can easily be taken to jail and charged with possession. You will be held until a judge arraigns you at which time you are released pending analysis (RPA’d). The case will be dropped once the results come back negative from the lab but in the meantime you have been permanently booked into the state computer system with a mug shot, fingerprints, and a criminal record you will now have to get expunged. Though you were not convicted, you will now be obligated to answer “yes” as to whether you have ever been charged with a felony. You can sue and may get some money since cities tend to settle out of court to avoid litigation expenses. However, you will have gone through a frustrating, embarassing, and maybe costly experience when its all over. You may have a James Dean attitude and not care all you want but what I’ve just described is a very real scenario that could easily happen. I’m amazed that I haven’t heard of it happening yet but I imagine its only a matter of time. The majority of cops are pretty sharp and would probably be able to figure out your nasal snuff isn’t illegal, but there are a few screwups who manage to slip into every agency. I’ve seen people brought in for having a few marijuana seeds in the floorboard of their car or a tiny baggie with only a trace of powder residue in it. The bottom line in my opinion is to use common sense and discretion. The legal system is a nightmare and once you get sucked into it you’ll find out just how far your freedom goes. Cops have a saying, “You can beat the rap but you can’t beat the ride”. I for one hope to never take that ride.
I recently went to a Blues hockey game where smoking is prohibited, during each intermission I took out my smashbox of rooster and took a couple pinches. I got a few dirty stares from the middle aged people (in their thirties) around me, but a couple old timers who were sitting in back of me actually asked for a pinch which ended up clearing my “name”. I have never seen so many old timers “cry” lol. I believe that if you act like its no big deal and don’t try to hide it, you won’t have problems besides the occasional stare.
Wow, I never thought of myself as middle aged. Wow.
I’ve said this on here before. I’ve actualy have had several times where people called the police on me for smoking rolled cigarettes or my pipe when I was a teen. I once had a stupid girl tell me I was cool for snuffing herion when I was doing a dean swift (somehow I was the asshole when I told her that wouldn’t be cool and that I’d never heard of strawberry herion before.) I once had a police officer roll past me as I was snuffing from a bullet, he looked suprised and gave me the what an idiot head shake. Never been pulled in. Never been searched except for once during a long story where I fit the discription of a perp, the cop and me had a long conversation about slow days at work and tobacco. Wasn’t the most pleasant experience, not too horrible either (fortunatly I had so much stuff crambed in my pockets he missed several key items.
thank you everyone who’s been replying. Spyro;s response is especially sobering to me. I would like it if he or others with that kind of knowlwedge might come back with some practical tips on how to maybe avoid such things until/unless somebody does that, I have decided as a result of all that’s been said so far: Bullets are too associated with other drugs and this overrides (to me) any convenience they might provide. (won’t be carrying bullets with only the possible exception of tall green QWS ones which look like cold treatments) Its probably best whenever possible to carry your sniff in its original marked container (some, like rooster and especially WE Garrett would have problems here) sniff is probably best used very sparingly in public at all (I know I know, sucks but may be true). I guess if I had an encounter with an officer and was asked after it I hope I’d have presence of mind to immediately offer up the container for his inspection and ask him to investigate it for himself, open the lid and pass his nose over it etc (hoping an officer would recognize the scent of tobacco etc, and if any other flavors were involved, that he’d hopefully recognize that most street drugs don’t reek of "irish coffee’ or ‘Jasmine’ etc). I may have a slight advantage in that I am a middle-aged (and that’s 45, not 30 lol) very short disabled woman who’s disability-related oddities would most likely be the most striking or first observable things to an officer (as it is with most people I encounter). Odd or curious or hostile stares from general people-at-large are kind of par for the course with me, not sure I’d recognize or know the difference from an ‘all purpose’ glare I might already get from a sniff-specific one e.g., a couple of weeks ago while at the donut shop with a friend some old guy neither of us knew suddenly came up to our table and gave some cryptic rambling explosion about ‘people who use cell phones in public’ and when, quite confused at this, I reached for his arm to get his attention to ask him what he was talking about, who’s using a cell phone (and why was he at our table telling us this?) he looked kind of flustered, and stomped back to his own table. I had used my communication device to ask him these questions. It took my friend and I (neither of us own a cellphone) a full 20 minutes to figure out the guy had actually been complaining about my communicator (which speaks in a digital voice). “People like me” I don’t suppose are the first image that comes to mind when somebody thinks ‘drug user’ I’m far more prone to be mistook for someone who’s deaf, mentally retarded, having mild Cerebral Palsy, a stroke victim (etc etc) but I suppose it could happen (an officer could, with a stretch of imagination, I guess find that I’m ‘odd’ due to ‘being on drugs’ and the thing I just sniffed as the culprit). If it happened I would also be at disadvantage to explain myself
Never had a problem, but in the UK, a pinch of snuff in most places is still recognised as just that.
If I felt odd about snuffing in public, I’d use a fliptop from a company, so if I am ever questioned, by anyone, I can say this is tobacco snuff, and show them the container, and offer them a snoot.
Why should anyone care what people think, police included. I am actually turned off by the idea of offering people snuff. Would you want a smoker coming up and offering a puff? Use your snuff, use it where you want. If anyone gives you a look, give them a look back.
@cstokes4 the idea of having a ‘have you ever been charged with a felony?’ on you for the rest of your life that you have to answer yes (read spyro’s post above, unfortunately it really makes a whole lot of sense) is why I care what they think. Also, A lot of things I must depend on to survive would be cut off from me for having something like that.
YOU ARE USING TOBACCO NOT METH, COKE, or BLACK TAR HEROIN. But hey, if you want to spend the rest of your life stuck in a closet scared that the big bad boogey man is going to come get you, then by all means do so.
I’ve never had a weird look, or a question. I’ve used snuff in front of police, security, etc. I would like to think that they realize what I am doing. In the last 3 years that I have been snuffing, I have never been arrested, interrogated, questioned or detained. Of course, maybe it’s the brown powder coming out of a black snuffbox that smells of citrus instead of a white powder that sends the test kits blue. Everyone complains about government interference in their lives, all the while they are the ones restricting themselves.
I think at least one person here is missing the point. @cstokes4 Gotta love how with you its one erratic extreme or another “nobody should care what anybody things no matter what defying all logic and common sense” and if they do in any fashion whatsoever its “hiding in a closet scared of the big bad boogeyman?” wtf? and in capitals no less? drama much? Like I said, I get peculiar attention as a fact of my life from general smoes out there, so I’m not really worried if billybob at the next table doesn’t like it (odds are billybob is already pissed off because of the artificial voice coming out of my communication device)… I care when something completely stupid, a gross misunderstanding by authority figures could, in my case, end up costing me my home and barred from living in any other (subsidized housing), food and medical assistance. the fact that you ‘don’t get it’ is not my problem.
Me, drama? I’m not the one so worried about persecution from using tobacco in pubic that I’m willing to refrain from doing so. Paranoid much? I think the person missing the point is you.
Okay, okay I get it and I have the answer… Don’t use it.