Police used the force's new drugs itemiser - which scans people for traces of banned substances - at the Litten Tree pub. It was the first time the new technology, which detects traces of drugs from heroin to cannabis, had been used in the town.Police officers tested 150 revellers as they arrived at the pub in Sheep Street between 10.30pm and midnight on Friday.
The pub managers barred anyone refusing to co-operate with the test from entering.
Det Sgt Steve Duffy, of Banbury CID, said two people tested positive and were searched but not found to be in possession of drugs. The pair were then banned from entering the pub, but not arrested.
Mr Duffy said: "It went very well. We gained the full co-operation of the management and the customers." He said: "The public were very supportive. Many people were saying they wanted to be tested."
coming soon to a police state near you
Drug Scanner Checks Public
Tags: big brother, doomed
35 Responses:
I think that's what people get for going to a pub on Sheep Street.
I think that's what you deserve for drinking in a Litten Tree chain pub.
Well, ok. What about when this sickness spreads to all pubs and becomes mandated by law (maybe in that order... or not)? Or is that only going to happen here in the states.
There'd be rioting in the streets if it became too hard for an Englishman to get his daily beer!
"You can have your pint, Sir, you just need to breathe into this tube... What's that you say, Sir? If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear..."
So, is this nonsense happening in the UK or US?
UK I guess, but only a matter of time till it gets here as well.
Amazing how fast democracy falls apart once you get people scared enough...
UK: this was in Bicester, which is about half-an-hour's drive north of Oxford. As a former Oxfordshire resident, I find this especially depressing.
yeah bro i'm hella stoked for Bush's 3rd term! I mean why are we even bothering to have elections next year since democracy is dead and shit now
God forbid I had a joint the night prior and now want to go out for a pint! Obviously I'm a danger to myself and others.
Holy fuck. Do not want.
Isn't the solution just to let the management know that you'll be taking your reveling somewhere else henceforth, and then doing so? If there's one thing that will retard the encroaching police state, it is convincing enough people that they'll lose money on it.
This is less helpful advice if there's only one pub in town, of course, but I also suspect that a one-horse town would hesitate to blow resources on stunts like this. I dunno what Bicester's lot is.
Guh. Must move to Canada.
Seems like a bit of a long haul considering this is in... you know... the UK.
It'll be over here in a minute, you know.
Canada isn't far enough away any more. Geographically or politically.
:( I'm afraid you're right.
havent been to vancouver eh?
WTF.. so if my neighbours smoke pot _I_ get banned? Gee, that sounds like a great idea!
50 people need to get stoned, wait a day, then dress in suits and all get poped going into the bar and play stupid. That would fuck up their program.
If you've got bar owners here in the U.S. freaking out over banning smoking, the chance of this technology being embraced by American businesses is probably very small.
LOOK INTO MY EYE
My favorite ambiguous quote from a movie. I still don't get what he means by it either.
The finger he's using to point at his eye.
We've only had a smoking ban in england and wales for a couple of months, and it was tabled a year or so before that - bar owners were freaking out then, but they're over it now, just like ireland, scotland, NYC and all the others that went before.
Still, this drug widget seems to be a once-off technology showcase (guess that didn't go quite to plan) and either the bar owner was stupid/paid a lot of money, or the bar owner wanted to scare off some problematic druggies so they're go give trouble to another place in future.
the hatterI know that in bigger cities the smoking ban is better tolerated but in places like where I live it would never fly. Not in a bar anyways.
One thing I liked about the smoking ban in the UK was that it gave me a chance to see what pubs had the hottest girls. They'd come out in shifts to smoke and from that I could make my decision.
Being asthmatic, I rather enjoyed being able to go to a pub and not have to walk outside to breathe every 30 seconds.
weve had our pub/club/bar smoking ban in australia since july and the one good thing thats come out of it is the resurgence of the House Party :D
Good to know...And even more encouraging is the trend that as long as it's sold with the label "this is in everyone's best interests" this technology will soon be coming to wherever you may be. UK, US, Canada, Australia, etc.
Remember, if you retain a shred of individual rights, the terrorists win.
All I have to say is "What a bunch of fucking pussies."
26 lb. portable General Electric ion mobility spectrometer, US$ 1.2 million;
False positives for the politicians who approved its purchase, priceless.
lol
People get barred from entering a pub for stupid and arbitrary reasons, film at 11.
I'm not surprised the average inhabitant of an English pub might be concerned about people on E or dope. It might get in the way of drinking until you puke in the toilets, starting a shoving match, getting told to leave, staggering into the street, having a punch-up outside the pub, chundering in the street, staggering off to get curry, eating, puking in the street, pissing in the street, picking a few more fights on the way home, and collapsing unconcious in the general vicinity of your house.
Of course, I did spend time in the area of Birmingham, so that may have coloured my perceptions.
Here in Australia, such actions are quite common - only the technology is new. Every couple of weeks there's a news report about the police taking some drug sniffing dogs into a pub on Friday night, and the dogs do what they do best - and people go to jail.
If you want to catch a buzz here, just don't do it outside a pub on Friday night. Do it before church on Sunday. Nobody's gonna' take the canines into church on Sunday morning to sniff for pot.
...And at church on Sunday morning you'll meet a lot more babes and collect a lot more phone numbers than you will at the pub on Friday night. :-)
Motorists in Colorado are expressing outrage over a weekend stunt in Gilpin County, about an hour's drive west of Denver, where highway checkpoints were set up so a private organization could ask for samples of blood and saliva.