The recently held Symbiosis event (think Burning Man in the mountains) held at Camp Mather turned out to not be fun for everyone as rangers busted 23 event participants for drugs and even tazered one.
NPS Morning Report: “Over the six-day period from September 17th to September 22nd, there was a significant increase in drug-related arrests throughout the park. A majority of these were related to the Symbiosis Gathering music festival that occurred on lands adjacent to the park near the Hetch Hetchy entrance. A shift in the park’s existing staffing levels on the days during which the event occurred resulted in 23 misdemeanor arrests for possession of controlled substances, including hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines, LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, opiates, hydrocodone, nitrous oxide and large amounts of marijuana. One incident in which a driver failed to pay for or show proof of entrance into the park led rangers on a slow speed pursuit through the park and down a rugged dirt road. When the driver finally stopped but refused to follow rangers’ instructions, she was taken into custody after a taser deployment. A vehicle search revealed hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana and also, ironically, a valid entrance pass. Though the festival ended officially at noon on Monday, September 21st, many participants were still in the area early last week and generating cases within the park.”
Comments
4 responses to “Planning on coming to Symbiosis next year? Leave Drugs at Home”
Really?? Why? Hey, if they’re driving in that state, or in public areas around kids etc, ya, bust them. But just a bunch of harmless kids doing the same thing people have been doing in CA since the 60’s?
Great use of our limited resources.
Can you imagine what this will cost just in legal proceedings and ranger pay?
Yet meanwhile, Joe RV is sitting in his campsite in the Valley sucking down his second fifth of Jack, legally.
(and no, I’m not a proponent of using drugs, I barely even drink anymore)
A law is a law. Don’t like ’em, change ’em. Until then, they have to be enforced to everyone the same. Personally I’d like to know what was up with the lady who was tazered. What kind of stuff was she on?
That’s funny. I just finished reading a mystery novel by Nevada Barr that takes place in Yosemite, with the double-entendre title “The High Country”….
LOL! The HIGH country. My friends dad lived in Standard outside Sonora and used to tell stories of how much he hated turning on the gas pumps at the gas station where he worked in the 60’s for “those damn hippies living in he caves in Yosemite who want to buy $2 worth of gas and pay in pennies they find in the parking lots around the park.”