Crack Home
It’s easy to make jokes about an A2 crackhouse (”fine artisanal cracks and cocaines…you really can snort the difference!”), but we find it incredible that a team of drug dealers was able to set up shop on Packard Street for 10 years, stockpiling stolen laptops and credit cards, pointing rifles into traffic and trying to get U of M students hooked on heroin.
“The house also serves as a clearinghouse for stolen property including credit cards, guns, students’ computers and fresh meat,”
FRESH MEAT?
posted by Anna on June 15th, 2004 at 2:19 pmAnd I’m sure the Ann Arbor News was all over this story, too, right?
Maybe tomorrow.
posted by rjwhite on June 15th, 2004 at 2:40 pmRJ - The Ann Arbor News had a story about this on May 1st.
posted by George on June 15th, 2004 at 2:44 pmSomehow I thought the Freep story had a lot of new information, but now that I look at the News one, I see a lot of this was already known. Except the meat.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on June 15th, 2004 at 2:55 pmif you don’t like Ann Arbor, why then don’t you move back to where ever it is you crawled out of?!
posted by Anonymous on June 15th, 2004 at 3:16 pmMaybe AAIO needs a banner at the top directing people to the FAQ, because I think that question definately falls under the category of Frequently Asked.
posted by George on June 15th, 2004 at 3:51 pmYep, the FAQ is a good thing. Just got back from the Chicago ‘burb I crawled out of yesterday, actually. Mmmm, Dunkin Donuts. And uptight Bobos who live among other uptight Bobos instead of trying to impose their lifestyle on students. Although I’m not sure about the second “bo,” for bohemian - it’s a heavily Republican area.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on June 15th, 2004 at 4:59 pmRJ - The Ann Arbor News had a story about this on May 1st.
Oh, I was still working at mlive then, so I definitely wouldn’t have read that.
posted by rjwhite on June 15th, 2004 at 6:52 pmthat’s organic meat, I assume. Or at least grass-fed and hormone-free.
posted by Laura on June 15th, 2004 at 9:38 pmWhy is heroin so much easier to get in AA than pot?
posted by Anonymous on June 15th, 2004 at 10:18 pmRegarding the comment about AAIO crawling out from somewhere - I may be missing the point, but has it occurred to any of the AA-loving locals that comments like that make it harder, rather than easier, for new arrivals to appreciate the charms of their town? If you want to win hearts and minds it might work better if you try to share or convey what it is you find so great about this place - not all of us see it. The defensiveness and hostility do nothing to change negative opinions to positive ones.
posted by Nick on June 16th, 2004 at 11:03 amPot’s not that hard to get, unless you need it in a hurry. Lots of people in Ann Arbor only deal in bulk, so it can be hard to pick up an eighth for a party.
posted by js on June 16th, 2004 at 11:43 amI mean, I’ve heard from this friend… Or whatever…
Hallucinogens, though, are pretty much gone. There was an article in the NY times about how they had fallen off of the national scene as well, but they’ve been nowhere around here for a couple of years.
Oh, and again, did anyone not know that was a crackhouse? Jesus. I just figured that when my laptop got stolen, it went there.
A bunch of people were doing LSD at a party I went to last week, which was a bit surprising. (There’s also a thriving trade in newer psychadelics like 2c-i, some of which are still legal.)
posted by Ben on June 16th, 2004 at 10:51 pmBen, maybe we should be friends.
posted by js on June 17th, 2004 at 3:53 pm*reads livejournal*
Well, the party was at Joint House, if that helps. (heh. I think we’ve actually met; you look vaguely familiar.)
posted by Ben on June 19th, 2004 at 11:14 pmNick, regarding your comment about how Ann Arbor locals should be less defensive and hostile: You posted this on a website which exists only for people to explain the ways in which Ann Arbor is crap. When people opt to move here and then go so far as to create a website detailing their hatred of the town, they are, undeniably on the offensive. Is it so wrong for us natives, as rich and elitist and bobo-ish as we may be, to respond to hostile attacks with hostile defensiveness? Finally, as both a native and a UofM student, I can say with aboslute assurance that Joint House is lame in spite of its good psychedelics.
posted by Milly on June 20th, 2004 at 3:08 amHmm. Well, I’d love to take credit for this website, but since I didn’t create it I really shouldn’t.
My question, though, Milly, is this: if you genuinely love the town you live in, why do you care what others think of it? I’ve lived in other places that I’ve generally enjoyed, and in all of them I’ve known people who didn’t like them - but it never occurred to me to attack their opinion, because it didn’t affect my life at all. The fact is that my personal opinion about AA just isn’t very important, least of all to other people. If you’re willing to get bent out of shape over it, you might need to relax a little.
posted by Nick on June 21st, 2004 at 1:00 pmWell, I’ll defend Milly a little bit here - I assume she cares that some of us hate Ann Arbor for the same reasons that I care that so many people love it and I’m compelled to go into great detail as to why they’re wrong. Of course, the A2-lovers are hard to escape, whereas one has to seek out us skeptics.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on June 22nd, 2004 at 6:03 pmWell, what I’m getting at is that most people who move here from elsewhere don’t generally come with a strong hatred built in. As such our impressions and opinions of it are shaped largely by experience - and it doesn’t make sense to me why locals who want us to love the place would put so much energy into making our experiences here as negative as possible. I don’t really care if people disagree with me and I have no interest in changing other people’s minds. But I expect the same in return - someone attacking me over something as stupid as my opinion about their town only reinforces my impression that AA is overburdened with people who have too much time on their hands and who take themselves far too seriously.
posted by Nick on June 23rd, 2004 at 3:34 pm