RT Rybak blames pot smokers for Minneapolis murders

​Derrick Martin's murder on the trails of Lake Calhoun marked the 20th homicide in Minneapolis this year. That brings our 2010 total above all of 2009 with seven months remaining in the year.

So what could be causing the gun battles on our streets? Mayor RT Rybak blames you and your love of marijuana. Drop the pot and our streets will be saved. In a Star Tribune story highlighting the city's increasing efforts to stop gang violence, Rybak had this humdinger of a quote:

"When you pay for marijuana, you are paying for the bullet that goes into the head of someone on the streets. Too many people have winked sideways without being honest that it's white middle class Minnesota that's paying for the drugs that put profit into gangs that kill people."

He gets downright expansive on MPR:

"What fuels a gang? Where is the money right now? It's in the marijuana trade. Where's the money in the marijuana trade. Frankly, white middle-class Minnesota is buying marijuana and with a wink and a nod thinking it has nothing to do with anything. It is literally paying for bullets that kill people. So anyone listening here who feels they're not connected to this, wants to help in any way, spread that message. That any person who thinks that it is OK to be involved in what is an underground economy that is violent, spread that message. Boycott the people who are killing people... I believe that anybody who buys marijuana... is directly or indirectly giving money to gangs."

So next time you take that sweet hit of weed, Rybak wants you to envision the bullet you just helped a gang member purchase to murder someone. What a buzzkill. (Read: Rybak Responds.)