Tallahassee Police Department raided Deondre Francois" apartment, starting QB for FSU, all to bust him with a tiny bit of weed.
The post Police Go Undercover for Months, Spend Thousands to Bust FSU Quarterback with Tiny Bit of Weed appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
It has been just over three years since the State of Washington approved marijuana sales for recreational use. And despite the naysayers’ cries the sky would fall after Washington decriminalized weed, according to a new report, not only has cannabis use among teenagers and kids fallen, but so have admissions to treatment centers and misdemeanor pot convictions.
The Washington State Institute for Public Policy commissioned the study. It found that pot use among teens fell from 20 percent in 2010, to just 17 percent in 2016. The survey asked nearly 11,000 high school sophomores if they’d consumed cannabis within the last month. The results indicate not only are fewer teens using cannabis on a monthly basis, but the fears that teens would become pot addicted were unfounded.
According to the Seattle Times, legalizing cannabis use and decriminalizing it also helped drive down the number of admissions into marijuana abuse treatment centers. The Times writes:
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On cannabis abuse, researchers found that admissions for publicly funded treatment fell in the three years after I-502 [decriminalization of cannabis in WA] was enacted. Admissions dropped from 7,843 in 2012 to 6,142 in 2015.
As for misdemeanor convictions for marijuana use, they also fell significantly.
misdemeanor convictions for pot possession by adults dropped sharply after legalization… Prohibitions for minors did not change under I-502; possession remained illegal for them. But convictions began to decline in 2012, dropping from 1,015 at the start of the year to 722 in early 2013.
Resulting from Washington State’s decriminalization of marijuana use for adults, not only did pot use among teens fall, but admissions to treatment facilities, and misdemeanor convictions for pot use also dropped. The results, if they can be duplicated nationwide, hold promise for the rest of the country.
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Indeed, the country as a whole is wrestling with a burgeoning opiate and heroin crisis. As TFTP reported more Americans died in 2016 from opiate and heroin overdose than died in the entire Vietnam War. Cannabis holds out effective hope to treat opiate and heroin addicted individuals by substituting addictive opiates with cannabis. In light of those facts, the legalization of cannabis across the United States cannot come fast enough for opiate addicts and their families.
Working against Americans’ freedom to choose a natural plant-based medicine, as TFTP reported, is Insys, an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company, and manufacturer of Subsys, a controversial fentanyl-based opiate. Insys actually paid $500,000 to sway voters against making recreational marijuana legal in Arizona. The money was given to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy (ARDP) which quickly launched an effective television and radio advertisement campaign declaring that marijuana is an “addictive product” that ensnares children leading to skyrocketing rates of pot use among teens.
As TFTP’s Matt Agorist wrote, the hypocrisy was glaring:
Insys Therapeutics, the company who makes insane profits from a drug behind one of the worst overdose epidemics in the nation’s history, fentanyl, has donated $500,000 to a campaign opposing marijuana legalization in the US state of Arizona. In a glaring display of hypocrisy, the maker of the drug Subsys, a sublingual fentanyl spray, claims that marijuana is dangerous because it could hurt children.
What’s really hurting children are the nearly 60,000 deaths by opiates and heroin overdose which has taken countless parents away from children, addicted possibly millions of teens and young adults, and taken away grown children from elderly parents.
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The ARDP mission statement (which can be read on their Youtube channel) indicated that ARDP was dedicated to “fighting back against the for-profit marijuana industry that makes money from an addictive product”. Critics such as Agorist contend that not only did ARDP accept donations from one of the country’s most unethical pharmaceutical companies allegedly, to promote fallacies about cannabis, but ultimately ARDP helped enable Insys to keep marijuana illegal in Arizona. The ballot-initiative failed in late 2016.
Almost immediately following the failure to decriminalize cannabis in Arizona, Insys convinced the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to allow Insys to introduce a synthetic marijuana product, Syndros, to the market. Yes, that’s right. At the same time Insys was paying to keep safe and natural weed illegal, it was partnering the DEA to profit off of synthetic weed.
The latest facts from Washington State suggest Americans have nothing to fear from weed becoming legal in all 50 states and provinces. But the entire nation has much to fear from an increasingly unethical pharmaceutical industry which will stop at nothing to addict Americans to its powerful, deadly, and dangerous opiates.
Okaloosa County, FL — In the fall of 2016, voters in Florida approved the sale of medical marijuana statewide. But if anyone thinks that Florida law enforcement is going to get soft on marijuana as a result, they might need to think again. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office paraded their latest drug bust on their Facebook page this week. They found Kayla Martin, 26, to be in possession of four melted gummy bears and two lollipops, arrested her, and charged her, not only with possession but with intent to distribute. The six tiny pieces of THC-laced candy were photographed, along with the perpetrator, and uploaded to the department’s FB page.
A woman who tried to sell candies laced with the marijuana extract THC was arrested today by Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies.
26-year old Kayla Margaret Martin of Miles Martin Road in DeFuniak Springs is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of a county park.
A beachgoer complained to OCSO deputies after she says Martin approached her around one p.m. and tried to sell her the edibles while at the Boardwalk on Okaloosa Island. Deputies located two lollipops and four gummy bears in Martin’s bag. The gummy bears had melted due to the heat.
According to the FB post, the young lady was apparently trying to sell her wares on the beach on Okaloosa Island. After one person reportedly complained about her attempts to sell her homemade edibles, the police swooped in to arrest the now accused drug trafficker.
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But the backlash against the police department was immediate. Jordan Ford wrote, “Wow. Good job getting this dangerous individual off the street. TWO lollipops. Man. I can sleep better tonight.” The American Libertarian Army confronted the department with one simple question, “Why don’t you catch someone with a drug that can actually harm someone? Are you afraid of going after the drugs that actually bring violence?”
As the Free Thought Project has been documenting for years, the war on drugs keeps catching enterprising entrepreneurs like Martin, who understand the medicinal value of cannabis and attempt to capitalize on its benefits to human health. Cannabis has been demonstrated to serve as an effective anti-anxiety, painkiller, antidepressant, antiepileptic, anti-cancer drug, and works well for veterans suffering from PTSD. Why police around the country continue to pursue low-level drug offenders such as they allege Martin to be, smacks in the face of current research, legislative movements, common sense and human dignity.
While Okaloosa County parades Martin and her wares on the internet (they probably let the gummy bears melt so they appear more like heroin in the pictures), the backlog of unprocessed rape kits continues to grow. All across the country, including Florida, police have refused to do their jobs and process rape kits; the medical evidence collection kits hospitals collect to help to convict alleged rapists.
In Florida, they’re called “Sexual Assault Kits” or “SAKs.” Instead of using the money to process more SAKs, the State of Florida allocated 300,000 dollars to study the phenomena of unprocessed SAKs sitting in evidence lockers all across the state.
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What the research team at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found, after investigating the how the state’s law enforcement agencies handle their SAKs, may be shocking to some. “Responding agencies indicated there were approximately 13,435 unsubmitted SAKs within their inventories and approximately 9,484 of them should be submitted,” they concluded. In other words, there are nearly 10,000 women in Florida who are still waiting for justice in their rape cases, as their rape kits remain unprocessed.
Consider the dichotomy at work. Police praise themselves for busting a cannabis advocate with six pieces of candy, yet store their SAKs away to be processed when they get around to it. Some could contend, with reason, police departments all across Florida are guilty of serious dereliction of duty, preferring to arrest cannabis advocates in place of prosecuting rapists, some of whom may be serial rapists.
For many months now, The Free Thought Project has reported, on numerous occasions, that cannabis is being successfully used to treat opiate addictions. And while the mainstream media has been largely silent on the subject of marijuana’s promise to help users of these dangerous substances end their harmful addictions, all that has recently changed.
NBC News published a Reuters article titled, “Legalized Marijuana Could Help Curb the Opioid Epidemic, Study Finds” — a move which is a noticeable break from its Big Pharma advertising base. According to recently published cannabis research, marijuana has now demonstrated its ability to significantly reduce opiate and heroin-related deaths, just as TFTP has been reporting all along.
The research focused on those states which have gone against the federal government and legalized medical marijuana. Currently, there are 28 states which have legalized marijuana in some form or another.
Ironically, the researchers weren’t trying to find evidence cannabis can curb the opioid problem — they were attempting to determine whether or not hospitals would notice an increase in hospitalizations related to cannabis consumption. According to the NBC News report, “In states that legalized medical marijuana, U.S. hospitals failed to see a predicted influx of pot smokers.” However, what the researchers did notice was something they apparently weren’t looking for. While the hospitals didn’t see the predicted increase in cannabis-related hospitalizations, “they treated far fewer opioid users.”
The reduction in opioid-related hospitalizations was down a staggering 23 percent! For comparison purposes, the study examined hospitalization data in both states which have legalized medical marijuana (MMJ) and other states which do not have MMJ programs at work in their state. At least 22 U.S. states still prohibit what the federal government still considers a Schedule I narcotic as powerful as cocaine, heroin, and LSD.
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Going further, the number of overdoses dropped as well in those states which have MMJ. “Hospitalization rates for opioid overdoses dropped 13 percent on average,” the mainstream news media organization quoted from Drug and Alcohol Dependence, the authors of the study. So, in summary, not only does the legalization of marijuana have a positive impact on opioid and heroin hospitalizations, but it also reportedly has a favorable impact on overdoses.
Echoing what TFTP has been advocating for years, the study’s researchers spelled out, in no uncertain terms, the impact MMJ legalization has made on opiate addictions. Yuan Shi, the study’s author and health professor at the University of California, San Diego, said, “medical marijuana laws may have reduced hospitalizations related to opioid pain relievers.” According to NBC News, Shi said in an email, “This study and a few others provided some evidence regarding the potential positive benefits of legalizing marijuana to reduce opioid use and abuse, but they are still preliminary.”
Shi’s study, “analyzed hospitalization records from 1997 through 2014 for 27 states, nine of which implemented medical marijuana policies,” and appears to arrive at a similar conclusion from four previous studies on the subject. “Her study was the fifth to show declines in opioid use or deaths in states that allow medical cannabis,” NBC writes. Even with the seemingly non-biased reporting, naysayers continue to doubt marijuana’s ability to heal, now apparently able to help control opiate addictions as well.
One such “No” face is U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions who said as late as last week, “I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana,” while speaking to a gathering of law enforcement officers in Virginia. Echoing what others seem to think about cannabis, Sessions equated using cannabis to treat opiate addictions as “trad[ing} one life-wrecking dependency for another.”
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Maybe it’s time America’s top cop took a more objective look at cannabis — although that is highly unlikely. Sessions would probably not even change his mind if he were to visit Colorado and meets with parents of children who’ve successfully treated their child’s intractable seizures with cannabis — saving their lives — or the thousands of veterans who’ve saved their own lives by treating their PTSD with cannabis.
Now, it seems, according to at least one mainstream news media source, even heroin and opioid addicts might be able to defeat their addiction if they would simply give back their opiate prescription to their doctor, and start smoking weed provided to them by their street pharmacist. It’s time we legalize marijuana at the federal level and end the nonsense. Those 28 states with legal weed have, in effect, ended at least a portion of the war on marijuana and it’s time for the federal government to follow suit.
Knightdale, NC — The Knightdale Police Department, in North Carolina, boasts their K-9 unit provides, “a number of valuable services to the Knightdale community.” Apparently, one of those community interactions using their trained attack dogs involves busting juveniles with weed.
In a WNCN local news story titled, “3 teens smoking pot busted when Knightdale police officer drives by, officials say,” the town is getting a bit of recognition for tracking down those potheads and giving them a dose of canine justice. “Three teens were nabbed in Knightdale Sunday afternoon when they were smoking marijuana outside as a police officer drove by, authorities say,” the article states indicating the officer of the peace’s olfactory senses were alerted to the skunky smell of freshly burned cannabis.
The article continues, “According to Knightdale officials, three boys – two who were 16 and one who was 18 — were smoking marijuana outside when an officer pulled up in his squad car,” apparently busted red handed with the Maryjane. “The trio ran into nearby woods and more police were called in for a search,” the story continues indicating the potheads made a break for it.
Here’s where the story gets dangerous, and in light of the juveniles’ ages, the search should have been called off. The police decided to bring in the attack dogs. “A K-9 police unit was also involved in the search, which eventually found the three teens,” reports WNCN adding, “Their identities and specific charges were unavailable.” As The Free Thought Project recently reported, police K9s can be uncontrollable and quite unpredictable, even ripping off the face of one such suspect.
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While many states across the country may find the story laughable, that multiple police officers had nothing better to do than to go after a few pothead wannabes, North Carolina still has not embraced any form of legalized marijuana.
As TFTP has reported on numerous occasions, weed has become somewhat of a wonder drug, healing children of seizures, treating ADD and ADHD, and has even demonstrated promise in helping heroin addicts kick their opiate addiction. Even with the anecdotal evidence, and growing medical research, states like NC and many Southern states have yet to embrace the natural remedies cannabis can offer.
Maybe it was Officer Thomes Cagle and his canine “Echo” who tracked down those vicious criminals (sarcasm), or Kevin Jorgenson and the PD’s other canine “Maverick” which tracked down the teenage drug users. At any rate, the police got their bad guys.
When not treeing young pot smokers like Carolina raccoons, Knightdale PD days their dogs “make appearances at local elementary schools and community events.” It’s unclear if the PD considers the arrest of said teenagers one of their “big arrest(s)” but they consider their use of canines an integral part of their “team’s commitment to community policing” is as strong as their desire to take a bite out of crime!
Probably less than 5 years from the date of this story, North Carolina will likely legalize medical marijuana, and the Knightdale Police department’s days of busting juvenile weed smokers will be seen as a thing as ancient as unleashing attack dogs on civil rights activists in 1960’s Selma Alabama. Either way, using cannabis is quickly becoming a right of the people to self-medicate using something as natural as saline for infections, and calcium for upset stomachs. Until then, stories like the ones coming out of Knightdale are enough to give us all a bad tummy ache.
Our good friend, Dominik Izzo, is basking in what appears to be his life’s calling: lecturing law enforcement leaders, officers, and anyone who will listen, on why police are hated so much and what each police officer and department can do about it.
As some of our readers may recall, Izzo was fired after blowing the whistle on Round Lake Park IL Police Chief, George Filenko. The former police union president came out against what he perceived to be his superior’s ineptitude in allowing an innocent woman to go to prison, charged and convicted of murder for a crime many, including at least three coroners, now believe she could not have committed. For the complete story click here.
In a recent video, Izzo came out and said what many police often think, but few have the platform to announce: marijuana is not the problem — waging a war against it is.
He first went on record saying, “I’ve never smoked pot…I’ve no desire to…I’ve never tried it,” and admitted the smell of freshly harvested weed gives him a headache. But the outspoken veteran police officer did admit to having arrested several individuals who were in possession of marijuana. “With that said, to my knowledge…I’ve never seen anyone ever do anything impaired on weed that was dangerous, at all, at all,” he said confirming what marijuana users already know. They’re not impaired after smoking weed, and are fully aware of themselves at all times while gettting high. “If cannabis itself, if weed is a plant, it’s organic,” he said adding, “I’ve never seen…(people on cannabis)…do things that are violent.”
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He admitted weed, and the desire to use it, doesn’t compel users to break into a home or prostitute themselves to get weed. On the contrary, the same cannot be said of heroin or cocaine, the officer admitted. Then the teetotaler came out with his own opinion on issues surrounding the legality of marijuana.
“I truly believe that we should legalize weed,” Izzo said, that adding arresting pot users for possession charges amounts to, “cops…wasting their time.”
Izzo’s pro-marijuana position is in line with what much of the rest of the country is thinking in the 21st century. Weed isn’t a substance to be feared or banned, but rather embraced for all of the medical benefits it can give to users.
The former officer of the year called it “stupid shit” when police officers arrest users and legally complicate their lives, potentially resulting in increased medical bills for officer takedowns which may lead to personal injury.
“Anything natural is going to wind up helping us,” Izzo stated after acknowledging Big Pharma’s role in keeping weed illegal for half of the country. The veteran police officer then described how he stays healthy. He says he regularly consumes alkaline green drinks, presumably such as barley grass smoothies. And turning one last time to cannabis, drawing a correlation between his superfood endeavors and marijuana, he said, “I think it has massive health benefits.” Wishing not to be confused with marijuana users, Izzo again reiterated he has no interest in trying a little THC.
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The Drug Enforecment Agency (DEA) quietly removed a 45-page document from its website which had long been criticized for stating inaccuracies and making false statements about cannabis.
According to The Cannabist, “‘The Dangers and Consequences of Marijuana Abuse,’ a nearly 45-page publication on the various ramifications of cannabis use, no longer was available on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s website.” One statement, found on page 7, made the following claim, “Legalization of marijuana, no matter how it begins, will come at the expense of our children and public safety. It will create dependency and treatment issues, and open the door to use of other drugs, impaired health, delinquent behavior, and drugged drivers.”
However, we at TFTP have addressed those myths associated with cannabis, all of which directly contradict the DEA’s controversial statement. As our very own Matt Agorist once wrote, the eyes of the world are being opened to the wondrous medical benefits of marijuana. “Cannabis has been shown to kill cancer cells, save the lives of countless epileptic children, treat PTSD, heal bones, treat brain trauma, and a slew of other uses science is only beginning to understand. And yet, the only thing dangerous about this seemingly miraculous plant is that police will kidnap, cage, or kill you for possessing it.”
But thanks to the efforts of TFTP and others, the DEA has chosen to take down its document which used the semantics of fear, and danger, to promote its anti-cannabis policies.
Another cannabis advocacy group, the Americans for Safe Access, took their concerns over the erroneous document directly to the DEA, filing a petition in late 2016, under the Information Quality Act, arguing that the DEA was promoting false statements and thereby shaping public policy towards cannabis.
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The group took umbrage with the DEA’s statements about cannabis being a gateway drug and claims marijuana use leads to lung cancer, schizophrenia, psychosis and mental decline in adults. “In December, the medical marijuana advocacy organization alleged that the DEA website’s inclusion of 25 false statements about marijuana violated the Data Quality Act, also known as the Information Quality Act, which is meant to ensure the quality, objectivity, utility and integrity of information that government agencies provide to the public,” the Cannabist writes. In light of the DEA’s decision to remove the document from its website, the group is now claiming victory.
Policing the authorities is not limited to holding police officers accountable. On the contrary, it is holding all government entities responsible for the statements made, positions held, and actions taken. As The Free Thought Project has consistently reported, the government’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is one such entity which not only needs to be held accountable but eliminated, especially for the false and misleading statements and actions it takes concerning cannabis, CBD, and Kratom.
For many years, we at TFTP have been holding the DEA accountable, especially in the area of transparency. As we reported in late 2016, lobbyists who petition for policy changes within the DEA are groups related to Big Pharmaceutical, Hospitals, and others who would benefit from keeping cannabis, a plant, illegal. The blaring conflict of interest leaves many to conclude the DEA is fraught with corruption.
Furthering our beliefs are actions taken by the DEA which lead many to conclude the DEA is intent on keeping cannabis illegal at the federal level, while the states are quickly moving in the opposite direction towards legalization of cannabis in all 50 states (currently there are 27 states which have some form of legalized marijuana for its residents to use for a great number of various illnesses). One such action occurred in August of 2016 when the DEA moved to classify Kratom, another plant, as a Schedule I narcotic. After a public outcry, and even from members of Congress, the DEA backed off it’s decision to make it harder for the public to access a plant which has shown to be effective in treating heroin and opiate addictions.
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At about the same time, the DEA also decided to maintain cannabis as a Schedule I narcotic, in the same category as crack cocaine. Those two actions, as incredulous as they may be to some, were followed in late December with yet another absurdly ludicrous move to classify cannabidiol (CBD) as a Schedule I narcotic as well. CBD is hemp oil, cannot get anyone high, does not work as a strong pain killer like aspirin or Tylenol, but the DEA decided to classify it as such nonetheless.
It should come as no surprise to critics of the DEA who contend the government’s drug enforcement decision is being led around by the nose by Big Pharma. The pharmaceutical companies stand to lose billions of dollars once Americans understand just how powerful a neuroleptic CBD actually is. Those who suffer from depression, migraines, seizures, bipolar disorder, and a myriad of other disorders have all reported having their symptoms lessened after using CBD.
Please consider sharing this article in your social media network to get the word out that activism works, even if it leads to something as simple as having a federal agency remove false and misleading information from its website.
While certain members of the mainstream media are fixated on President Donald Trump’s tweets, one story written by MSM may have flown under the radar. The Free Thought Project has consistently reported the safety of marijuana, its uses, and its benefits. However, the federal government, state governments, and local governments, all continue to lock away otherwise law abiding citizens for using, and sharing marijuana. Now, one member of the mainstream media is starting to sound a lot like The Free Thought Project. Vox, in its article “The 3 Deadliest Drugs in America Are Legal”, written by German Lopez, tells the truth about legal substances which are killing people left and right.
With respect to tobacco, the article states, “Overall, cigarette smoking is linked to one in five deaths in the US each year, according to CDC estimates for average annual fatalities based on deaths between 2005 and 2009. Nearly 42,000 of the total 480,000 deaths from smoking are caused by secondhand smoke.”
It is important to note that the Free Thought Project does not advocate for the prohibition of any substance as it always leads to more death, more crime, and more abuse.
However, for a substance to be linked to 20 percent of the annual deaths, and still remain legal, perplexes us here at TFTP given the state’s claim of ostensibly protecting society. But we understand that the deal the tobacco companies made with the federal government (1997), in what some have called an extortion deal, promised to give the federal government a steady stream of income for generations, so long as the substance remains legal. For example, in 2010, the federal government took in 15.5 billion dollars in tax revenue. So, ending tobacco tax revenue streams would effectively cost the federal government more money than it’s willing to relinquish. If the aforementioned mortality statistics and the deal made with Uncle Sam aren’t enough proof of corruption, collusion, and coercion, we simply do not know what is.
READ MORE: Three Teenagers Facing 5 Years In Prison For Being Caught With Marijuana In a State Where It Is Legal
Moving on to alcohol, the statistics aren’t much better. “Alcohol-induced health problems, such as liver disease, led to more than 33,000 deaths in 2015. But that actually undercounts the number of deaths caused by alcohol: When including other causes of death like drunk driving and homicides, the toll rises to 88,000 per year,” the Vox article concludes.
And the relationship between alcohol and government is one based on monetary value to the tune of 5.6 billion per year. Despite all the PR ads advising consumers to “know how to drink responsibly” and “know when to say when”, for all intents and purposes, the federal government needs everyone to drink up! That way, the revenue stream will keep flowing, despite the nearly 100,000 individuals who lose their lives from drinking the toxins and who die in traffic fatalities.
Last but not least are opiates. Vox writes, “In the 1990s, drug companies, such as Purdue Pharma, pushed opioid painkillers on doctors and patients through an aggressive, misleading marketing campaign. Doctors, who were under pressure from advocates and government agencies to treat pain as a serious medical issue, prescribed the drugs in huge droves, letting them proliferate — not just to patients, but to the patients’ family and friends and the black market. As a result, opioid painkiller deaths skyrocketed.”
As TFTP reported at the end of last year, opioid-related deaths are skyrocketing. All the while, the federal government looks the other way while billions of opiate prescriptions are being filled every year. Last year, the government even approved the use of oxycontin for children.
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Unlike alcohol and tobacco, the federal government has not yet been able to capitalize on taxing opiates, but that’s all changing. In June of 2016, under the guise of using the tax funds to “treat” opioid addiction, several U.S. senators introduced a bill that would levy a federal tax on all opioids. Do you see a pattern yet? The Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment Act would apply a one cent per milligram tax on opiates if passed.
Compared to marijuana, which kills practically no one according to the report, the dangers of tobacco, alcohol, and opiates are very real and growing in size and scope. The major difference between cannabis and other big three killers is that the federal government purposefully maintains marijuana as an illegal narcotic which must be eradicated.
Fortunately, states are beginning to redefine the long-standing definition the federal government attempts to impose on the citizens of the United States. Medical marijuana is now a very real option for not only those who suffer from chronic pain, but those who have intractable illnesses, and emotional conditions better treated with cannabis than with prescription drugs. The only real threat the American people have, with respect to marijuana, is that the federal government, under the new Trump administration, will attempt to ban it completely in favor of continuing to addict Americans to the three deadliest substances on the planet: tobacco, alcohol, and opiates. The truth is, the feds are probably just trying to figure out how they’ll get their cut.
It’s bound to happen. When one state enacts certain freedoms for its residents, traveling between states can become legally problematic. Much like the freedom of same-sex couples to wed was challenged in states which didn’t recognize same-sex unions, the freedom of medical marijuana users to be able to travel intrastate is being challenged, and sometimes unintentionally.
Phillip Blanton, a California grandfather and medical marijuana (mmj) patient has been charged in Texas for possessing his legally acquired prescription drug from CA. That drug is cannabis and it’s illegal in Texas. Blanton was stopped on Jan. 1, when he was driving from Newton, CA to Houston, TX. The grandfather was traveling to see his 20-year-old granddaughter who has Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
He was stopped in Decatur, TX, and his vehicle searched after Blanton admitted he had a marijuana pipe in his possession. He told reporters what happened, “I said, ‘Officer, I don’t have any illegal drugs on me. Everything I got is prescription from my doctor,’” to which the officer responded, “’If that dog finds anything, you’re going to jail.’” Blanton has held his mmj card for 10 years in California.
After four ounces of marijuana, including edibles, was found in the trunk of his car, Blanton was then notified he was under arrest. “I said, ‘What? Are you kidding me? I’m a patient. I’m a grandfather — not a drug dealer.’ I’m there in handcuffs feeling like a total loser…a second-class citizen.”
Therein lies the problem with having one state regulate marijuana like alcohol, and another state who opposes such regulations. Free travel between states, while in possession of marijuana, is illegal in most cases. Now, Blanton is facing prison time if convicted, all for going to visit his granddaughter and traveling with his pain medicine in tow.
Blanton spent the night in the Wise County jail, posted his share of the 20,000 dollar bond, and is fearfully waiting for the court to determine a trial date. For his part, Blanton said he’s going to fight the charges. “I’m not a recreational user. I’ve been a medical user for the past 10 years,” he said. “What’s going through my mind is terror. I’m a 67-year-old grandpa who loves his family very much and wants to see his granddaughter who’s battling for her life.” He added, “My daughter and son-in-law are already going through hardship with my granddaughter. We didn’t tell her that papa has been arrested. I feel so bad because I came here to uplift my family.” He told the police officer, “All I want to do is just see my granddaughter.”
But he was unable to talk his way out of the arrest and the charges. He has, however, kept the news of his arrest a secret from his grandchildren, hoping to spare them from the pain of knowing their grandpa might go to prison for bringing his prescription medicine to Texas.
Ironically, Blanton is familiar with the way things work in prison. That’s because he used to serve in the CA prison system as a minister, working with inmates in drug and substance abuse and prevention programs. Hopefully, Blanton will take the opportunity to challenge the arrest and potential conviction in court in order to help set a precedent in Texas for other law-abiding individuals who wish to travel across state lines AND take their medicine with them.
According to KHOU news, the reason Blanton was charged with felony possession and not misdemeanor possession was because he possessed more than 2 ounces of marijuana, mostly edibles. But edibles are not the same as flower marijuana. Edibles may weigh more but that doesn’t mean there were four ounces of marijuana in the four ounces Blanton had in his possession.
According to the report, the former minister had six dozen cookies in a gift bag in his trunk. That may seem like a lot, but the relatively small amount of marijuana found in those cookies will likely be considered by the court if his case ever goes to trial. If the officer had been more aware of the way concentrates are used, potentially he could have used discretion when he charged the CA grandfather and former minister with a felony, instead of a misdemeanor.
Blanton admitted to reporters he now wishes he hadn’t been as forthright in speaking with the officer about what he had in his possession. His admission led to the lawful search of the vehicle. When it comes to marijuana possession, cannabis users would do well to exercise their 5th amendment rights to remain silent. In such cases, it is better for the police to find probable cause to search the vehicle instead of an mmj patient giving the LEO such probable cause. Cases like Blanton’s serve to illustrate just how out of touch law enforcement officers are with the way the country is heading as it relates to medical marijuana.
While the Blantons await the outcome, the time is now to act. Cannabis users really must become proactive, politically speaking, in order to ensure that when they wish to travel to another state, that they can do so without leaving their medicines behind. All it takes is one precedent to be set at the Supreme Court level, and other states will begin to relax their border war on drugs, of which marijuana is arguably the least dangerous.
Ironically, if Mr. Blanton had, indeed, made it all the way to Houston without being stopped, he would have been able to enjoy his medicine without fear of going to jail. That’s because, as The Free Thought Project has reported, city officials have formally announced they will no longer be taking marijuana users to jail. Kim Ogg, the newly elected District Attorney said, “I’ve never felt good about putting marijuana users in the same jail cells as murderers. It’s just not fair, it doesn’t make any sense, and our country is resoundingly against that,” after making the announcement anyone with marijuana possession charges would be diverted around jail.
The legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado has led to some interesting developments in the war on drugs. According to a video segment on Fox News, seizures of marijuana flowing out of Colorado into neighboring states has risen from 58 in 2008, to 394 in 2015. This indicates Colorado has unwittingly become an exporter of legal weed, found to be illegal in many adjoining states.
Sitting in for Fox News’ Shepherd Smith, Gregg Jarrett asked FNC reporter Alicia Acuna if neighboring states were fighting a losing battle. Acuna responded by saying 8 states already have recreational marijuana, and another couple dozen states have some form of medical marijuana at work. Mason Tvert, of the Marijuana Policy Project, told FNC, “If anything, what’s happening is no different than it was before. People are still using marijuana, it’s just that they’re more likely to be using marijuana that didn’t come from a Mexican drug cartel.”
According to FNC and University of San Diego professor David Shirk, that fact has now been confirmed. It seems, as marijuana proponents asserted, the Mexican cartels are getting out of the illegal marijuana trade. Shirk says the cartels are turning their backs on marijuana in favor of other “more predatory criminal activities” such as, “kidnapping, extortion, larceny…stealing petroleum from petroleum lines,” Shirk stated.
FNC reported what proponents have been saying for years. If you make marijuana legal, the illegal, criminal elements, such as Mexican drug cartels, will find other means to sustain their income. However, it is important to note that the reason these cartels exist in the first place is because of the drug war. Attempting to claim we need the war on drugs to keep the cartels from kidnapping people is like saying we need people to murder each other so police can have a job to do.
Had drugs not been illegal in the US, the cartels would have been extremely hard pressed to amass the money and power they now have. Rest assured, however, that kidnapping and larceny are not nearly as sustainable as the drug industry as it is much easier for politicians to look the other way on drug smuggling than it is for them to ignore children being stolen from parents. That’s why, rather than kidnap people, the Mexican cartels are still capitalizing on the American drug war.
One such way the Mexican drug cartels have reportedly upped the ante is to produce a drug which is much more addictive than just heroin alone. They mix heroin with Carfentanil, which “is a synthetic opioid so strong that just a few granules the size of grains of table salt can be lethal. Since mid-August, roughly 300 people in at least four states have overdosed on heroin linked to Carfentanil and the less powerful compound fentanyl,” Time reports.
If heroin were decriminalized in the US, overdoses would plummet and so would its use. This is not an assertion, it is fact.
One positive coming out of Colorado’s legalization of marijuana is the fact that the drug task forces which were previously engaged in going after marijuana, can now turn their attentions to going after the organized criminal element such as the cartels, which have no regard for the patient seeking medicine for whatever ails them.
FNC concluded their marijuana segment by saying President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have a problem with medicinal marijuana but added he does not approve of recreational marijuana. Whether or not Trump will allow the continuation of progress in the legalization of marijuana is yet to be seen. Certainly, Colorado will put up a fight if the newly named Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeks to overturn CO’s legal weed business as it’s now providing millions of dollars to help fund the educational system in that state.
The FNC segment confirms what TFTP has been saying for months now, legal weed does more to stop the cartels than the official war on drugs. As we reported to you in March, “in the past seven years (seizures of marijuana at the Mexican-American border have dropped) from 4 million pounds in 2009, to just 1.5 million pounds last year.”
