Three days of Phish, 194 arrests, $1.2M in drugs seized

As was said, the amount of arrests equals 4/1000. This wasn't a drug story, by far, and I assure you, there were probably more drug arrests in a single Hampton Roads city in a single day than the total number of arrests at the Coliseum the entire weekend. I'm a 21 year old Phish fan and lifelong Hampton resident, and I was at the Coliseum every day during the event, mostly the entire day and night. For those who weren't even out there who are criticizing the band, the fans and the entire event, for once have your own voice instead of following what the media says. The event was a blast. It was about art, it was about music, it was about escaping the monstrous hassles and disappointments that are thrown on us constantly in everyday life; it was about peace and enjoyment - it wasn't about drugs. This event was highly welcomed by the city of Hampton, as it brought in much needed revenue, and we hope and WILL see Phish's return to the city. The Hampton Coliseum is THEIR venue. The only bad concerning the Phish concert and festivities derives from those people who make a fuss over the very small drug related crimes that took place. There were no deaths. There was no violence. In my mind

This is funny:

"The police did the right thing, they enforced the laws of the community, think about that the next time a crack head is trying to kick down your door and your trying to get to the phone"

Suuure buddy. Those nasty Phishheads and their crack. I was at those Dead shows that you mentioned. There were business men, lawyers, teens, and every other type of person or profesional at the shows.

To attack the audience and/or the groups involved is an attack on the community itself. We are the Grateful Dead and Phish. Think of the sheer numbers nationwide it took to sell out the shows of these 2 groups for so many years. I am proud Phish picked Hampton.

Have any of you people even known that Phish was coming to VA if you did not read the paper? How much did you really get affected by these drug reports? Really, there were many drugs there, however, did it hurt you at all??????? The Phish scene is a bunch of peaceful hippies who love their kind. Get over it, Phish will be back again too!!

You're absolutely right, Epsiloid. It would be plastered all over the news for days, while they interviewed the families of the 5 shooting victims from 3 separate incidents in the parking lot, then the grieving mothers of the poor "good boy" that the police shot when he aimed at them after capping the brother that dissed him. Then they'd get jailhouse interviews from the other thugs who "just came for a good time". Then ther'ed be a day or two of some offended city councilman from Norfolk screaming that the cops are all racists. Yep, it would generate a LOT more news.

I guess all that drug activity in the parking lot of the coliseum left the dealers in the east end of NN feeling left out for the weekend!

You ask: "What was the total cost of having this group preform for three days, including police and court costs?"

Well, the band themselves paid for the 200 extra police on the scene. And, according to the The Daily Press:

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"The local economic effect from the band's three-day rock concert reunion at Hampton Coliseum was estimated to be about $5 million for everything from the cost of hotel rooms to restaurant meals and retail-store sales, said Ryan LaFata, a spokesman for Hampton Convention & Visitor Bureau.

The new estimate is $7million to $8million, although official numbers are still being calculated, LaFata said.

Just how much is that?

Imagine if the Hampton Jazz Festival went on for a week and a half or two weeks, and that's how much was brought into local businesses, LaFata said."

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So, to answer your question...it didn't cost Hampton AT ALL to have Phish in town.

I never cease to be amazed at the hypocritical selectivity of the "War on Drugs". While I am certainly not advocating drug use, why are alcohol and tobacco legal while drugs that are less addictive and dangerous are felonies to possess? The "War on Drugs" is in fact a "War to Provide Employment". Why are our tax dollars used this way? The existence of entire agencies of Law Enforcement would be meaningless if drugs were decriminalized. No drug dealers would violently defend their riches if drugs, like alcohol and tobacco, were heavily taxed and regulated. The "War on Drugs" is not preventing damage to individuals, or society. It is defending profit. If we want to stop the dangers and damage of drugs in this country the solution is simple - take the profit out of drugs. Police Officers can focus on violent crime, theft and abuse of our children. Drug dealers would have to get their slimy selves a real job. The time has come for true freedom once again. THAT would be something worth fighting and dying for - freedom to choose what we put into our bodies and how each of us live our lives. Freedom is not just for things society agrees with. Freedom is for everything – or nothing at al

I disagree with any comment that is an attack on the band itself. They were here to entertain. The police were prepared, there was no one hurt. The news estimated that Hampton made $5million dollars. I know we had contractors coming in that could not get a hotel anywhere in Hampton. There is always some sort of bad element, but IMHO this was a benefit to the community and we need to bring more headliners. The police were aptly ready and got some dealers of the street, Hampton businesses made some good profit.

Just goes to show that the front page of the NYT Arts section had a glowing story about the bands return with their first venue being the Hampton Coliseum. Quite a compliment for our region to a worldly audience of intelligent readers.

The Pilots' take. List it in the "Crime and News" section online and headline the arrest's on the front page and not mention one positive thing about the entire event. Shame on the lame editors of this paper that has gone to shambles.

Think about it. Phish is one of the most popular bands in history since the Greatful Dead (which also played the coliseum) and for the Coliseum to be their first choice to return after a 4+ year hiatus to have a 3 day sold out event with folks attending from all over the country and world and it's treated on the front page as a crime scene by the idiots at the editors desks at the Pilot.

194 arests, over a million dollars in drugs siezed. The local government in Hampton should have let this PHISH get away. Why do we bring problem groups to this area? It's not freedom of speech, their records and videos are still on sale. What was the total cost of haveing this group preform for three days, Including police and court costs. I hope this is taken into consideration before they are allowed to come to this area again.

At big concerts like this the Feds are only after dealers. There would not be enough personnel to deal with all the minor infractions. If they saw someone selling, bust them. If you see someone smoking a joint make them stamp it out and move on. This is normally what I have seen at concerts. Most busts were probably in the parking lot anyway where people were hanging out and not seeing the show anyway.

Ever notice how much more money cops would make off of drugs then what you could really sell them for on the street? If there is really that much money to be made off of 80 felony arrest then the drug business is the only one not in recession. Maybe we should let ABC stores sell seeds and pills and charge outrageous taxes. At the prices cops seem to think the stuff is worth we could retire the national debt in five years.

Were any illegal guns confiscated? Was anyone shot? Seems like 3 days at the Coliseum/parking lot was a heck of a lot safer than standing on a street corner in Portsmouth, drugs or no drugs.

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/03/snakeshot-used-portsmouth-shooting-police-say

over the years when I was younger including The grateful Dead, Elvis Costello, Sam Kenison, Metalica and Toad The Wet Sprocket to name a few. The level of drugs varied depending on the artist and location of the event such as a university stadium or theater hall. The worst when it came to drugs was The Grateful Dead not only by volume but also by type and potency. During the four days they were in town there were about 40 arests for posession with intent to distribute and the siezed drugs ranged from pot to lsd to shrooms to dust. Also during the concert 15 people were taken to the hospital for overdosing and reactions to tainted drugs and of the 15 9 were local teens.

The police did the right thing, they enforced the laws of the community, think about that the next time a crack head is trying to kick down your door and your trying to get to the phone.

This just in!

Today 1.2 Million dollars was spent on untaxed drugs to replace what was seized at the show. While the police tout the large number the rest of the country laughs at the absurdity of the futile action.

It would be great if stiff fines were attached to these charges and taxes for law-abiding citizens could decrease! Afterall, taxpayers spend money on lawn enforcement that is usually a result of non-law-abiding citizens (or not). :)

If I'm reading the article right, who was busted was dealers.
The dealers were not likely following the band, were more likely local.
Sounds like who was buying was narcotics officers. The cash take wasn't particularly high, the product take was. Dumb criminals.

I don't think I'd go blaming the band for this, sounds like the phish head reputation just made the real round up easy.

200 out of 50,000... Let's see, that's four one-thousandths of the crowd that got arrested. That's .004 or 4/1000. Yeah, that's a big drug story there Pilot!

I didn't count the number of times "drugs" were mentioned in this article, but I think it was five (5) in yesterday's three-paragraph article. Instead of this stupid reporting, I can only wonder why the Pilot doesn't write/publish something POSITIVE about the band and the show. That would be a novel concept for sure!

Amy, you make the point even more succinctly... :-)

Dude, why does the Man have to harsh my mellow? No one was hurting anyone, it was all so beautiful. Johnny law is just the oppressive arm of the owning class, man. The capitalist pigs dont make any money off of the love being shared at the show, man, so they have to go in with their jack booted thugs and run down the oppressed and downtrodden working people of the world and...... wait, what was I talking about?

Don't have a clue? No, I guess I don't understand why ANY city would knowingly invite in more drugs; why ANY city would SET UP a situation that would tax the availability of an already-strained police department; or why ANYONE would support drug use unless they're uneducated about the real consequences of it. And please don't tell me using drugs doesn't hurt anyone other than the user and that's it no big deal, because that's a load of bull. So feel free to clue us all in...