Law And Disorder

Aspen Says No To Drugs

By Michael Conniff, 1-18-06

The only thing more shocking about the five-hour-plus, long-day’s-journey-into-night hearing Tuesday in the chambers of Aspen City Council would have been in Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis had actually shown up.

As it was, more than 100 people of the People’s Republic of Pitkin County made time for face time with the City Council concerning the vexing subject of drugs in the wake of two controversial undercover cocaine busts in December at Aspen eateries spearheaded by Aspen Police and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The blockbuster at the Council hearing was confirmation from Aspen Police Chief Loren Ryerson—he found the time to show up—that Pitkin County Sheriff Braudis had told the Aspen Chief the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office wanted no part of any undercover investigation-bust.

That revelation puts the Sheriff in the uncomfortable position of refusing to uphold the drug laws as written.

Ryerson has taken it on the chin from the pro-drug local newspapers, and the uni-named Councilor Torre was making noises before the meeting about turning Aspen Police Chief into an elective office, creating a de facto referendum on Ryerson’s conduct. Not only did that idea of poll-axing Ryerson go nowhere Tuesday, but forces in the city and county in favor of enforcement of the existing laws came out in force, including the 20 members of the Aspen School District Drug and Alcohol Task Force and Valley Partnership for Drug Prevention.
Despite the protests of pro-drug forces in the town, based on the Council hearing it seems the majority of people in the city and county actually want the law enforced—even in Aspen.

“My guys will be back,� DEA special agent-in-charge Jeffrey Sweetin told those assembled at City Hall. “Whenever a case brings us to Aspen, we will be back.�

Sweetin took heat from pro-drug forces at the hearing who have taken to using the G-word (“Gestapo�) and the T-word (“terrorism�) to make their point about uniformed officers pulling their firearms at local watering holes. But the muscular turnout of the anti-drug cohort had to be a wake up call to local pols who believe the citizenry of Aspen embraces unfettered drug use like mother’s milk. The hearing was broadcast live in toto—and will be re-broadcast—on the local Grassroots TV, so the word is out on those who believe Aspen is free and clear of the exigencies of federal and local drug enforcement.

But there’s a disturbing corollary to this story made plain by even-handed coverage in Tuesday’s Denver Post, According to the big-city paper: “It seems the Aspen of legend—a place where cocaine was openly snorted in restaurant bars in the 1970s—has evolved and become divided when it comes to illegal substances.�

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