Douglas Haight, Berkeley High School Teacher, Arrested For LSD Possession After Night At Grateful Dead Bar

There are times when we do our best to fight against San Francisco Bay Area clichés.

We've written about how lots of people here buy guns and one time we met some living, breathing Republicans (and they were actually really, really nice).

But sometimes there's only so much we can do.

Take the case of Douglas Haight (yes, that's his real last name), a 51-year old teacher at Berkeley High School who was pulled over for a DUI after leaving a bar in San Rafael.

That particular bar, Terrapin Crossroads, is owned by Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh and is noted for regular performances by whichever assortment of Dead and Dead buddies feel like showing up and jamming on "Warf Rat" for half an hour.

After Haight was taken to the Marin County jail, local police suspected something was up with the liquid breath freshener he was carrying (an act SFist deemed "hippie profiling"). It tested positive for LSD.

He was charged with felony counts of LSD possession and bringing a controlled substance into a county jail.

Haight told the Marin Independent Journal that he had "[made] a mistake."

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

John Selawsky, who recently stepped down from the Berkeley school board after 12 years, said he had never heard of a teacher being charged with possession of LSD.

"We've had people accused of things, but I don't recall LSD," Selawsky said. "Everybody has due process, and he has rights, so you have to take this one step at a time."

Following his arrest, Haight lost his teaching credentials and was removed from his position as an independent advisor to Berkeley High's Independent Study program.