I think you raise a lot of good points Ron. When I was in highschool (i lived way out in rural Avon) drug dealers would often palm drugs in their hand and hand them off to their customers. It's a common practice today as well and law enforcement has more leeway in areas of high drug activity. And I know a great deal of people think of a handshake as a pretty blaise thing, but ask yourself how many times do you actually see people shaking hands on the street corners that you drive by -- I've maybe seen a handshake that was just a handshake once while traveling through the city. Any other time it has been for the transfer of drugs. I see it all the time when i drive to work and pass Bay St. and Clifford Ave.

Now in regards to the brother asking what is going on from the officers perspective its a dangerous distraction. He's there with a car full of people any one of them could be armed and potentially kill him if he gets distracted.

Now I also don't know if scrapping the Rockafeller drug laws would do anything to help the issues related to drug use, abuse and the illegal activity that goes along with it -- but I do believe that once drug abusing criminals get into the system they should be put through the most rigorous rehabilitation program possible because studies have shown that if these people can lick their drug habit the criminality that they are a part of will go away as in many cases it was fueled by the drug abuse.

On a personal note my father-in-law was a lifetime abuser of drugs and alcohol on a minor to moderate level. He had never been arrested, but spent most of his life drifting from job to job, stealing from employers and being homeless. I think if he had been arrested and forced into a long term treatment experience he would be alive today and functioning like your average citizen.