The Burning Man barrister
Michael Holden
As the Bay Area turns into a vacant desert and a patch of Nevada desert turns into a massive Bay Area party, those heading to Burning Man today and over the next week probably aren’t thinking much about law enforcement. But if past burns are any indication, maybe they should be. According to the Associated Press, about 300 people got cited at Burning Man last year, about 65 percent for possession of some sort of drug. And some 1,900 burners have been cited since 2001. (Those figures apply only to citations made by the Bureau of Land Management at the event–there are no totals for burners getting searched or stopped on the way from California to Nevada, where, incidentally, marijuana possession can be a felony.)
Apparently, federal agents have been known to roam Burning Man, in costume, with drug sniffing dogs. One local attorney, David Levin, says law enforcement at the event has gotten so out of hand that he was compelled to form a group called Lawyers for Burners to help people deal with legal troubles coming out of the event. His general argument is that for one, drug use at Burning Man is greatly exaggerated and two, that most burners, even while drugged, are peaceful and otherwise law-abiding.
I’m actually surprised the figures for citations aren’t higher, considering you don’t need drug dogs to sniff out what’s happening on the Playa. So is law enforcement becoming more onerous or are they merely a scapegoat for an event that everyone likes to moan about getting too big and too commercial and not as much fun every year?
Apparently, there’ll be 80 agents this year. If you’re at Burning Man, let us know if you notice the police presence.