#lasqueti

despite the weather, we made it to lasqueti. portraits of my science friends, amazing amazing amazing people (and lichens).

there are no police on lasqueti island, but once every few years there’ll be a raid with helicopters, looking for all the marijuana plants that provide income for so many residents. they don’t just grow to smoke their own here, they grow to sell off the island. one guy told me the weed growers make around $40k a year, which is fuckin great if you have no bills/rent and grow most of your own food. once a helicopter flew over gerry’s garden, and he ran around frantically with a baby in his arms trying to hide in the shadows. they found his plants and they ripped them out. 

because there are no police, ppl take on the role of self appointed sheriff, with a self appointed deputy, when shit is not okay. and what happens then is that they go up to whoever is causing trouble, threaten them and banish them from the island. gerry actually used the word banish, which makes it sound like survivor or some shit. gerry loved the self appointed sheriff thing, cos in his mind you didn’t need to wait till someone was guilty of doing something, and so you could stop crimes before they happened, essentially saving the victim. he didn’t really think about banishing the innocent and all that, but i guess leaving the island isn’t quite the same as serving a jail sentence

the most recent person to be banished was an older guy who’d been caught selling white powder (i’ll never what kind of white powder cos there was no elaboration but i assume coke) to young girls, and making inappropriate suggestions. the self appointed sheriff and deputy drove him off the island, and he could only take what was on him, and off he went on the next ferry. it’s kind of shit to be banished cos you lose your home and all that (that u probably spent years building), so most people stay on their best behaviour. and when everyone knows everyone, you don’t really want to cause trouble.