411 Whacked-Out Hippies Busted At Grateful Dead Concert

08/13/02 5:30pm

by Katie Bailey (CHARTattack)

Sometimes, just sometimes, it's funny when people act out tired old cliches. But most of the time it's just sad.

Like say, Deadheads who smell like feet and do a lot of drugs. Or metalheads who break things and throw televisions out of hotel windows. Or rappers who get arrested. Twice. This time the situation falls under the first category.

The Associated Press is reporting that police handed out 411 (yep, 411) tickets for violations of drug laws at last weekend's Grateful Dead reunion show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That's 411 people who thought that they would either keep the Deadhead flame alive with a little bit of illegal narcotics, or those who thought they'd score their first hit at the most appropriate place they could think of (hey, if you're a newbie looking for a little weed, it's the place to go).

The Walworth County Sheriff's Departments seized more than 51 pounds of pot, 7,300 doses of LSD, 8.8 grams of liquid LSD, 10 pounds of 'shrooms, 9 grams of heroin, 82 grams of hash, 6.3 grams of cocaine and one tank of nitrous oxide. Whee!

We would have paid to see the dude who brought the tank trying to explain that one to the police: "Uh, it's, um, oxygen. I'm in critical condition. But the vibe was callin' me, man."

And we haven't even gotten to the bus bust.

It's reported the police crashed a converted touring bus in the parking lot of the show when they saw a continuous string of people going in and out of it. They seized a bunch of the above mentioned drug list from the magic bus. Police have neither confirmed, nor denied they were tipped off by the "Hits — $5.00" sign on the side of the bus.

Two officers were injured in a melee following the bust, one knocked unconscious by a knee in the head and the other with bruises and scrapes. Once again, deftly defying popular belief, those damn hippies can MOVE when they're scared. You'd think that people would've learned from the bust at a Widespread Panic show this past April. As previously reported, 200 people at that show were arrested on drug charges — a sting called "Operation Don't Panic" by police.