Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Smoking Pipe

Just in time for orientation, a frat house at Cornell had a broken water pipe. So they called the fire department, which promptly made the following discovery:

"[F]irefighters found [marijuana] plants in a tin-foil lined closet, surrounded on all sides and angles by several high-intensity lights."

So they found pot in a frat house. Call me next week when they find the meth lab in a certain unnamed fraternity's basement on University Avenue.

Things certainly escalated quickly here, mainly in a natural progression. You call the plumber, and he calls the fire department. They, in turn, call the police. The police then probably called the kids' parents. This trip through the escalating chain of authority does not bode well for the incipient school year.

Apparently, the national chapter will sanction either the frat guy, the local chapter, or both, depending on the outcome of the investigation. Given that an indoor greenhouse like the one described by the article can usually be kept secret by one frat boy, the local chapter is likely to remain off the hook.

Perhaps the biggest oversight in the news story is the lack of mention of a plumber. I myself imagine that the plumber went into the pipes looking for mushrooms, and, having found none, promptly left the scene to look for them. After all, Cornell is renowned for its mushroom collection.

If the picture in that last link is not the most effective deterrent to drug use ever, I don't know what is.

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