IANAL, but there are an awful lot of situations where the 1st Amendment Protections of the press and speech are waived or superceded. While that’s fine in cases of child pornography, say, it sucks that it also holds true for other crimes, including drug crimes.
And Silo, if you can come up with a hard and fast set of posting guidelines that allow the kind of expression we value here and that eliminate all gray areas, I’d love to see it.
No, really. I’m all ears.
Bah! I say, close 'em all, and let Tuba sort 'em out!!
I closed the thread because it seemed to me that the OP was soliciting more a buyers’ guide and less actual ignorance eradication. If it had read something like “I read in Time about the differing strength of marijuana by region, and I’m curious to know if there are reasons beyond quality of cultivation – i.e., climate, soil conditions, etc. that may influence the amount of THC in each plant,” I probably would have let it go. (But, wiseguys, I won’t if you open one in the next week or so!) But it didn’t. It had a flavor of “hey, dude, what’s the best weed?” Even if we tolerated that kind of thread, it would belong in IMHO.
When I say that with different phrasing I might have left it open, I mean that I might have left it open at least until its inevitable hijack by the people who prefer that there be no drug threads in GQ (that’s my interpretation of why someone would be so stupid as to take a thread down a track that will obviously make me close it).
For example, I left this thread, about the relative potency of cocaine by method of ingestion, open until people started chiming in with “Hey, if you really want to get stoned, try it this way.” It’s posts like that that make me edgy about any thread having to do with illegal matters. Please feel free to drag folks to the Pit when I close a thread because it has wandered in an improper direction.
The distinction I’m trying to draw holds for the hooker thread (I assume; I didn’t read it). “I’m hiring a hooker; let’s talk about it” is permissible (in MPSIMS, please). “What methods or entrapment are legal for the police to use” is permissible. “Help me find a good ho without getting busted” will get closed.
It’s a judgment call, of course. Having reviewed the thread again, I stand by my decision.
Fair enough. I disagree with your decision, but I accept the rationale. It comes down to a matter of interpretation of the offending thread, and hey, yer the mod, so I have no problem with defering to your interpretation.
Pax,
Sua
Hey, uh, I’m in Troy, New York. Anyone know where I can score some weed around here?
Go to 255 57th Street, Apartment 704. Ask for Lupe. 
manhattan,
Did you say the best weed had a flavor?
Sorry, I’m hard of hearing.
Heh.
Here’s a tip. Don’t accuse someone of being a dirty hippie if your own hairstyle vaguely resembles that of the flute player from Jethro Tull.
That’s “Ian Anderson”, Alpha.
Well, at least we’d know for sure that Cecil and Ed are two different people…
Don’t listen to Sua. He’s nuts. You can get the best weed in Troy by going to 55 State St. Ask for “Sarge.” 
Jeez, Uke, is there any literary reference you don’t get? Just once, I’d like to hit one out of the park…
Ya stole that from Bob Costas, you stinker!
Yer pal,
Satan
*I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Six months, two weeks, three days, 17 hours, 55 minutes and 18 seconds.
8029 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,003.73.
Extra life with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 6 days, 21 hours, 5 minutes.
I slept with a REPUBLICAN moderator!*