County Tax Official Caught Growing Marijuana In North Carolina

Photo: Asheville Citizen-Times

Chris Maney, 46, was charged with possession and felony “manufacturing” of marijuana after officers claimed they found eight plants during a raid

​A tax administrator in Madison County, North Carolina was arrested after police raided his property and accused him of growing marijuana.

Chris Maney, 46, was charged with felony possession and manufacturing of marijuana after the raid by State Bureau of Investigation agents and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, reports Melissa Dean at the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Law enforcement had gotten a tip that Maney was growing pot next to his home, according to Sheriff Buddy Harwood. Detectives claimed they seized about 5.5 pounds of marijuana.

Eight marijuana plants in separate buckets were found in a field near the home, according to State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) spokeswoman Noelle Talley, reports North Carolina News Network. Cannabis seeds and “drug paraphernalia, including a scale,” were found inside the home, according to the cops.

“He faces charges of maintaining a dwelling for the possession and manufacture of marijuana as well as felony possession of marijuana and felony manufacturing of marijuana,” Talley said.

Graphic: ABC News 13

​Maney was placed under a $15,000 unsecured bond.

Interestingly, Maney’s wife, Susan Maney, is the chief probation officer in Madison County. She was not charged.

Chris Maney had worked for the county for 23 years, since 1988. He was suspended with pay until further notice, according to County Manager Steve Garrison.

Garrison said Maney will remain on suspension until he is either acquitted or convicted.

“It is certainly unfortunate,” Garrison said. “He was a stand-up employee. There have been no previous incidents.”

So why are you even bothering this guy? He was doing his job. What’s the problem? Other than that stupid marijuana law, I mean.

Maney previously worked for the county’s Department of Social Services and served as director of community services from 2000 to 2008.

Although Madison County drug screens all new county employees, Maney had been with the county for more than two decades, so no drug screening was required for him to move into other positions.

“Unless an incident occurs that warrants (another drug screening), there is no process to screen existing employees transferring to another department,” Garrison said.

For WLOS ABC News 13 news video on the incident, click here.

Marijuana Eradication Effort Under Way Across 6 California Counties

A massive, six county marijuana eradication operation aimed at ridding the Mendocino National Forest of clandestine marijuana cultivation is in full swing, Mendocino County officials have confirmed.

California Department of Justice spokeswoman Michelle Gregory tells the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa that the raids have netted nearly 300,000 marijuana plants and led to 77 arrests as of Monday, according to The Press Democrat.

Citing officer safety concerns, officials declined to give details of the operation, which began early last week but which they initially attempted to keep secret.

The operation includes hundreds of law enforcement officials from local, state and federal agencies. Raids are taking place simultaneously in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, and Trinity counties, counties that contain portions of the Mendocino National Forest.

Each summer law enforcement agencies eradicate millions of pot plants from California public lands, which marijuana growers favor for their remote locations and rugged terrain.

The latest raids span Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama and Trinity counties. Hikers and ranchers report more run-ins with armed pot growers in the region.

California Marijuana Dispensary Worker Gets 3 Years In Prison

Photo: Michael Fagans/Bakersfield.com

Israel Cavazos, manager of Nature’s Medicinal Co-Op in Bakersfield, California, measures bags of marijuana for a patient one day after the dispensary was raided again in 2009. Cavazos has been sentenced to 42 months in federal prison, and his co-worker Jonathan Chapman on Monday got 37 months.

​A medical marijuana dispensary employee in Bakersfield, California has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for “conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana.”

Jonathan Michael Chapman, 32, of Bakersfield, was sentenced to 37 months in prison, reports TurnTo23.com. The barbaric sentence was handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii and announced by U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner.

Chapman admitted that between 2005 and July 2007, he worked at Nature’s Medicinal Co-op, a Bakersfield business engaged in distributing marijuana. In 2007, federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) seized what they claimed was more than 85 kilograms (187 pounds) of marijuana from the dispensary.

Photo: Felix Adamo/Bakersfield.com

Medical marijuana patient Rex Palmer showed up at Nature’s Medicinal Co-Op but couldn’t get his medicine because of the raid.

​Prosecutors claim Nature’s Medicinal Co-Op logged $9.6 million in sales from January 2006 to September 2006, reports The Associated Press.

Five other Bakersfield defendants have already been sentenced after pleading guilty:

• Timothy Glenn Doolittle, 42, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and five years of supervised release

• Jennifer Diane Brown, 37, was sentenced to one year in prison and three years of supervised release

• John Shanks, 62, was sentenced to 20 months in prison and three years of supervised release

• Israel Cavazos, 38, was sentenced to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release; and

• John Wayne Wyatt, 31, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and three years of supervised release.

Two other defendants are still awaiting trial. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen A. Servatius is prosecuting the case.

The case comes as the result of a witch-hunt, I mean investigation, by the DEA, the Internal Revenue Service, the Kern County Sheriff’s Department, the Bakersfield Police Department, and the Southern Tri-County High Intensity Drug Task Force, all of which spent thousands of taxpayer dollars to lock up citizens for helping sick people.

- http://www.tokeofthetown.com

Case Dismissed; Men Want Their Medical Marijuana Back

Photo: KOMO News

All charges against Guy Casey, above, were dismissed — but the cops still don’t want to give his medical marijuana back.

​Two operators of a Tacoma, Washington medical marijuana dispensary beat drug charges earlier this year. Now they want their cannabis back.

Guy Casey and Michael Schaef said they are legally authorized to possess the marijuana seized during a raid and that the government no longer has any interest in the pot, reports Adam Lynn at the Bellingham Herald.

They’ve asked a Pierce County Superior Court judge to return to each of them 48 ounces of harvested marijuana and 30 plants — or their equivalents in cash.

Their attorneys contend that each plant — almost certainly dead now — was worth $3,000 to $3,500.

Graphic: North End Club 420

​ “Here, it is clear that Mr. Casey is entitled to a return of the property at issue,” his attorney, Aaron Pelley of Seattle, wrote in a pleading filed in Superior Court. “The case has been resolved, and the property is no longer needed as evidence.”

Deputy Prosecutor John Sheeran refused. Schaef and Casey are in violation of Washington’s Medical Use of Marijuana Act, Sheeran claimed in a counter pleading.

Sheeran claimed the men have not proved they’re legitimate medical marijuana patients or providers, and they possessed five times more marijuana than allowed by law when they were arrested.

“A person who takes one step outside the rules set up by the Legislature loses the protections offered by the Act,” the deputy prosecutor claimed.

The two sides are scheduled to argue their case in court on August 9.

The outcome of the case could establish precedent in Washington state, where courts have yet to rule whether forfeiture laws apply to medical marijuana, Casey’s and Schaef’s attorneys wrote in their pleadings.

The two men — good friends as well as business partners — were arrested in May 2010 after agents with the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team (WestNET) raided the North End Club 420 cooperative on Oregon Avenue and Casey’s home near Olalla, Washington.

Prosecutors charged Casey with two counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and one count each of unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance.

Schaef was charged with three counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and one count each of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance.

Prosecutors claimed in court records that the men sold marijuana to people not authorized to have it, kept a larger supply on hand than the law allows, and charged exorbitant prices to enrich themselves.

Much of the case was based on the testimony of one confidential informant, who claimed to have witnessed such behavior.

Detectives seized 85 marijuana plants and about 11 pounds of harvested cannabis during the raid, according to Sheeran.

In February, prosecutors dismissed the case against Schaef and Casey, saying questions about the informant’s truthfulness made the prosecution “untenable.”

“The informant was the basis for this investigation and is an essential witness for the state,” Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Sievers wrote in paperwork dismissing the charges.

The following month, Casey made a motion for the return of his marijuana and other property seized during the raids. Schaef followed suit in May.

Both men said they first asked the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department, which is holding the property seized during the raids, to return their property, but were rebuffed.

The men said they and their families were treated badly by task force detectives and suffered emotional and monetary harm as a result of the investigation.

“Mr. Casey and his family, including his children, were held at gunpoint by the drug task force,” Pelley wrote in his pleading. “They were humiliated in front of neighbors, and the Sheriff’s Department issued press releases on the arrest.”

Schaef, a single parent, lost his ho0me as a result of his arrest and the financial burden the case put on him, and had to send his 17-year-old daughter to live with relatives, his attorney, Kent Underwood of Tacoma, wrote in court papers.

“His business reputation was injured by statements that he was not helping sick people but, rather, taking advantage of them,” Underwood wrote.

Sheeran, ignoring the fact that the case against the two men was dropped, claimed they were both “drug dealers” in his recent pleading, which begins, “During the months of March, April and May 2010, Guy L. Casey and Michael J. Schaef repeatedly delivered marijuana in violation of” state law.

The deputy prosecutor repeated the allegations made in the criminal case which had already been abandoned and pointed out that Casey drives a Hummer and has several active bank accounts despite reporting little to no earnings to the government.

Pelley and Underwood said their clients are legitimate medical marijuana patients and providers, and as such are protected by the Medical Use of Marijuana Act. Washington state law allows authorized medical marijuana patients to possess up to 15 plants and 24 ounces of harvested cannabis. Authorized providers can have up to 15 plants and 24 ounces, as well.

The law “specifically provides that qualifying patients and caregivers who are in possession of medical marijuana pursuant to a valid prescription … ‘shall not be penalized in any manner or denied any right or privilege’ as a result of the possession,” Pelley wrote in his pleading.

“Clearly, forfeiture of the medical marijuana and plants legally possessed cannot be considered anything other than a penalty … and that forfeiture cannot therefore be allowed under Washington law,” Pelley wrote.

Underwood wrote that while “there is no specific provision within the state statute for the return of property, not returning the property to Mr. Schaef would go against fundamental fairness.”

Sheeran, meanwhile, continues to claim that neither man has “lived up to the letter of the law” and therefore doesn’t deserve to get any of the marijuana back.

“While each (Casey and Schaef) has a doctor’s note saying he is authorized to use marijuana, it does not specify the specific condition from which he suffers,” the deputy prosecutor wrote, failing to mention that for medical privacy reasons, the law doesn’t require that information in the doctor’s note. “Defendants who fail to establish they have a ‘qualifying condition’ are not entitled to raise the medical marijuana defense.”

Qualifying conditions for medical marijuana under Washington state law include, among others, cancer, HIV, epilepsy, glaucoma, hepatitis C, and diseases that result in nausea, vomiting, seizures and muscle spasms.

If you’d like to email Deputy Prosecutor John Sheeran and tell him to give the two medical marijuana patients, Casey and Schaef, their property back, you can do so by clicking here.

Graphic: North End Club 420

Menu from the North End Club 420 site. Screen capture taken July 25, 2011.

​

Alameda Sheriffs Raid Paraplegic Patients Garden and Threaten To Kill His Dog

Jason ‘RoLLaJaY’ Rivera (center in wheelchair)

Image via Examiner

I was fortunate to meet Jason Rivera aka RoLLaJaY at the SF Medical Cannabis Cup, and my heart goes out to him during time of trouble. No medical marijuana patient should have to go through torment of having their medicine raided let alone be threatened with the killing of their dog! This past Thursday, Alameda County Sheriffs said they acted on an ‘anonymous tip’ when they executed the warrant on Jason’s studio.

As sheriffs executed the warrant at the studio, one asked Rivera about searching his home.  Rivera says the deputy threatened to kill his dog if he didn’t cooperate.  ”We can do this the easy way and you can take us to your house to look around,” Rivera recounts the deputy saying, “or we can detain you for six hours while we get a warrant and go to your house and shoot your dog.”

This is an absurd misuse of power, and I think Russ Belville really hit the nail on the head when he said: “This threat is nothing more than emotional terrorism by our domestic police force to trample a disabled man’s Fourth Amendment rights in a crusade over a plant.”

The threatening or killing of family pets isn’t a new tactic for law enforcement during these types of raids, one example being the video from a raid in Columbia, MO in which a man’s dog was shot seven times. It sickens me deeply to know that the people appointed to protect us are the ones dealing the damage, we need to really make our voices heard in this fight for legalization in hopes of keeping harmless patients and medical marijuana providers safe.

Montana Cops Want Caregivers To Turn In Marijuana By July 1

Photo: Wikiality

Montana caregivers are supposed to turn over their plants to the cops by July 1.

​Montana’s medical marijuana caregivers officially have less than two weeks to turn in their cannabis plants to the police to be destroyed, but one advocate says that’s not likely to happen.

On July 1, medical marijuana providers are out of business in the state, thanks to the new law, SB 423, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, reports Matt Leach at NBC Montana. The law supposed “takes the profit out of the industry” (actually, it only drives it underground — and removes the tax benefits to local governments) and forces caregivers to turn over any marijuana they might have on hand.

It’s not gonna go down like that, according to Tayln Lang of the Montana Medical Growers Association.

Photo: NBC Montana

Tayln Lang, Montana Medical Growers Association: “This is a law that is basically based on fear and intimidation”

​

“I believe that all that cannabis that’s been produced by caregivers up until this point is going to make its way to the black market,” Lang said.

Under the old medical marijuana law, approved in 2000 by an overwhelming 63 percent of Montana voters, caregivers could help as many patients as they wanted. Now they are limited to providing for only three patients, and they’re not allowed to make a profit.

The new law also places strict new conditions for qualifying for medical cannabis, and strict rules on the doctors who certify medicinal marijuana patients, reports Matt Volz of the Associated Press.

Medical marijuana advocates are fighting back through the legal system. Montana Cannabis Industry Association attorney James Goetz asked Helena District Judge James Reynolds to approve a preliminary injunction that would keep the law from taking effect on July 1.

Some patients and their families content the new law will just force them to make illegal purchases by shutting down legitimate means of supply.

“The more I read about it the more absurd it is,” said 79-year-old Charlie Hamp. “They’re just trying to eliminate marijuana in Montana.”

Hamp testified that his wife Shirley, 78, stirs a medical marijuana tincture into her morning coffee at home in Bozeman to alleviate the pain after her esophagus was removed and replaced with the lining of her stomach.

He isn’t sure if his wife will still be able to get that tincture from her provider after July 1, or even whether the provider will be in business at all. Neither one of them knows how to make the tincture, nor do they want to ask their daughter and son-in-law to do it for them.

“This is a law that is basically based on fear and intimidation, and we don’t think that is fair to either patients or caregivers,” Lang said.

The new law specifies that caregivers will have to give up all their marijuana so that law enforcement can destroy it (probably one joint at the time). No caregivers have yet turned in their crops, as far he knows, Lang said.

“If you say, for example, that there are 30,000 patients in the state, and for each one of those 30,000 patients, six plants can be grown, that is a significant amount of cannabis,” Lang said.

But that cannabis won’t go to the cops, according to Lang, but instead will likely hit the black market.

That’s exactly where Lang expects patients who have been legally using marijuana to turn if they can’t qualify under the new, stricter patient guidelines.

“Of course that is the only place that patients are going to be able to get their cannabis from, so it makes sense that caregivers, folks that have been growing and producing it up into this point, are just going to leak that medicine into the black market,” Lang said.

Police Seize 8,000 Marijuana Plants in Michigan – Largest Marijuana Bust

An anonymous tip led to the confiscation of an estimated $8 million worth of marijuana from a Rome Township couple’s rural home.

Edwin and Linda Schmieding, both 60, remain in the Lenawee County Jail after bonds were set at $1.5 million for him and $1 million for her Tuesday afternoon in Lenawee County District Court. Both are charged with manufacturing more than 200 marijuana plants and with conspiracy. Edwin Schmieding also faces a felony firearm charge stemming from numerous handguns and long guns police seized from the home at 12501 Rome Road.

The couple are accused of growing more than 8,000 marijuana plants on their Rome Road property west of Hawkins Highway that had been a commercial flower farm. Doug Hartung, assistant Lenawee County prosecutor, said local officials are also talking with federal authorities because an operation of this size is far beyond personal use.

The raid was carried out by members of the Michigan State Police Office of Monroe Narcotics Investigation (OMNI) Team 3, which includes officers from some Lenawee County police departments. The Jackson Narcotics Enforcement Team also assisted.

OMNI officers and other law enforcement officials spent Monday night and much of Tuesday harvesting plants. Michigan State Police Lt. Steve Galbreath said the final count is 8,023 marijuana plants. They were in various stages of growth in several locations on the property.

Michigan State Police Inspector Gene Adamczyk said the plants ranged from seedlings to fully grown, 6-foot-tall stalks, leading officials to suspect a potential wider range for their investigation.

“This is probably the most extensive marijuana growing operation that I can remember in the Hillsdale and Lenawee area,” Adamczyk  said. “This will put a crimp in some marketing somewhere.”

Calculating a potential one pound of marijuana per plant, officials estimated the street value of the bust to be more than $8 million. The price is $1,000 per pound on the street, Galbreath said.

The growing operation, which appears to have been going on for several years, included a greenhouse and several fields. Many of the plants were hidden among pine trees on the property, he said.

“This was well-hidden. It is a very rural environment,” Adamczyk said. “If you drove past it, you wouldn’t be able to see anything.”

Edwin and Linda Schmieding appeared distraught during a video arraignment from jail Tuesday afternoon. District Judge James E. Sheridan had to repeat several portions of the arraignment for them. Both said they are receiving Social Security disability and do not have money to hire their own attorneys. Public defenders were appointed.

“I don’t think either one of us are a great flight risk,” Edwin Schmieding said while Sheridan was setting bond.

He set bond at $500,000 per count. The couple face maximum 15-year prison terms and $10 million fines on the marijuana and conspiracy counts. Edwin Schmieding faces a mandatory two-year prison term if convicted of the felony firearm count.

Lenawee County Sheriff Jack Welsh said the investigation began with an anonymous tip to a detective, who alerted the drug enforcement team. OMNI officers went to the scene to begin the investigation and noticed the smell of marijuana. That was enough evidence to secure a search warrant, said Hartung.

When they continued to investigate, officers found nearly 1,000 plants in a greenhouse. The search turned up an extensive growing operation that included lights, a watering system and ventilation equipment.

State police Lt. Tim Gill said officers also confiscated several handguns which were in a locked safe along with about $2,500 in cash. The property is subject to forfeiture, Gill said.

The Schmiedings did not resist and did not have criminal records, said Adamczyk.

OMNI Team 3 is a multi-jurisdictional task force made up of officers from the state police, Lenawee County Sheriff’s Department, Raisin Township Police Department the Adrian Police Department.

Daily Telegram staff writer Dennis Pelham contributed to this report.

Feds Forced To Give Back $14K Seized From Pot Dispensary

Graphic: Hollywood Goodfella

​Federal authorities agreed last week to give back nearly half of the $29,350 in cash seized from a man who represents a man who operates a medical marijuana dispensary in San Marcos, California.

The decision to return $14,383 — about 49 percent of the money seized — was part of a settlement that stems from a December incident in which Ron Chang, the man behind the collective, was stopped by federal agents while hauling marijuana on Pala Road, reports Teri Figueroa of the North County Times.

Law enforcement claims that smugglers use the well-traveled back road to avoid the border checkpoint near Temecula on Interstate 15.

Chang’s attempt to set up a dispensary caused a stir in conservative San Marcos, which enacted rules preventing any such businesses from setting up shop in the city of about 84,000 residents.

His first dispensary, Medical Marijuana Supply Collective, was shut down by a Vista-based judge’s order back in October. A second shop, Club One Collective, was then set up in the same location, and in April was ordered to close by the same judge.

Both times, the city of San Marcos sued in state court to shut down the dispensaries.

The property has now been surrendered to the landlord, and there are no plans to reopen the dispensaries, according to Club One’s attorney, Nathan Shaman.

“For all intents and purposes, Club One has ceased to function,” said Shaman, who represented the shop in the cases brought by San Marcos.

He also represented the dispensary in the federal battle over the confiscated cash.

The government gave back more of the ash than it typically does in such seizure cases, admitted Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Smith, who represented the federal government in the case of the seized cash.

“I reviewed it and looked at the events and the quality of the evidence and decided that this was the best thing to do,” Smith said, admitting that the disparity between state and federal laws regarding medical marijuana can create “a real conundrum.”

Club One and some of the medical marijuana patients it served from Oceanside to Temecula found themselves the subjects of raids in April. Federal agents seized computers, corporate records and documents, according to Shaman.

The April raids came just four months after Chang’s run-in with federal agents after he got stopped and his cash was seized.

Details of that December encounter are revealed in a federal complaint seeking to permanently seize the cash found in the truck. That complaint — filed on April 15, two weeks before the raids — says that on December 21, 2010, a U.S. Border Patrol agent pulled Chang over as he drove a truck north on Pala Road.

About 9:40 a.m. on that day, a veteran Border Patrol agent in a marked car spotted a man in a red sweatshirt, driving a rented box-truck with Indiana license plates. The agent claimed he saw the truck driver shift to look into his rearview mirror at the marked Border Patrol car.

According to court documents, the agent claimed that prompted him to follow the truck as it headed north on Pala Road into Temecula.

Once that truck merged onto I-15, the agent flipped on his lights and siren and pulled it over. Chang was the driver, and authorities said he was headed to drop off items at his warehouse business in Murrieta.

Agents claim Chang consented to a search of his truck. Agents claim the search turned up $29,350 cash in a duffel bahg, 1.22 pounds of marijuana, and growing equipment.

The Top 5 Worst States To Get Busted With Pot

The 5 Worst States to Get Busted With Pot

Even a minor pot bust can be life-altering for people unlucky enough to be arrested in one of these five states.

Police prosecute over 800,000 Americans annually for violating state marijuana laws. The penalties for those busted and convicted vary greatly, ranging from the imposition of small fines to license revocation to potential incarceration. But for the citizens arrested in these five states, the ramifications of even a minor pot bust are likely to be exceptionally severe.

1. Oklahoma. Lawmakers in the Sooner State made headlines this spring when legislators voted 119 to 20 in favor of House Bill 1798, which enhances the state sentencing guidelines for hash manufacturing to a minimum of two years in jail and a maximum penalty of life in prison. (Mary Fallin, the state’s first-ever female governor, signed the measure into law in April; it takes effect on November 1, 2011.) But longtime Oklahoma observers were hardly surprised at lawmakers’ latest “life for pot” plan. After all, state law already allows judges to hand out life sentences for those convicted of cannabis cultivation or for the sale of a single dime-bag.

Patricia Marilyn Spottedcow, 25, learned the truth about Oklahoma’s excessive pot penalties the hard way in February when a judge sentenced the mother of four to 12 years in prison for her role in the sale of $39 worth of herb to an undercover informant. Spottedcow’s sentence sparked national media attention – and public outrage – but neither result has led the judge in the case to reconsider the terms of her confinement.

Similarly harsh sentences for pot are par for the course in the Sooner State. Paraplegic Jimmy Montgomery was sentenced to life in prison – later reduced to 10 years – after being caught with two ounces of medical pot in his wheelchair. After considerable public outcry, Montgomery was eventually granted early release on medical parole – though he later lost a leg from an ulcerated bed sore he developed while in prison. Rheumatoid arthritis patient Will Foster – convicted of marijuana cultivation in 1997 – received a similarly draconian 93-year sentence, later reduced to 20 years on appeal. Foster was eventually paroled and moved to California, where he quickly registered as a legal medi-pot patient. However, in 2009 he was extradited back to Oklahoma to serve additional time behind bars.

Overall, some 13,000 Oklahomans are busted for pot annually. Only 12 other states arrest a greater percentage of their population for weed, and arguably no state sentences those convicted more harshly.

2. Texas. On an annual basis, no state arrests and criminally prosecutes more of its citizens for pot than does Texas. Marijuana arrests comprise over half of all annual arrests in the Lone Star State. It is easy to see why. In 2009, more than 97 percent of all Texas marijuana arrests — over 77,000 people — were for possession only. Those convicted face up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, even upon a first conviction.

Despite Texas’ dubious distinction as the #1 pot prosecuting state in America, police and lawmakers have little interest in exploring alternatives. In 2007, Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation (HB 2391) into law granting police the option of issuing a summons in lieu of an arrest in minor marijuana possession cases. Yet aside from police in Austin, long considered to be the state’s lone bastion of liberalism, law enforcement have continued to fervently make arrests in even the most trivial of pot cases.

In 2011, Houston Democrat Harold Dutton introduced House Bill 458, which sought to reduce penalties for the adult possession of one ounce or less of marijuana to a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $500 and no criminal record. Within weeks, over 2,500 Texans contacted their House members in support of the measure. Nonetheless, House lawmakers refused to even consider bringing the measure to a vote.

3. Florida. According to a 2009 state-by-state analysis by researcher and former NORML Director Jon Gettman, no other state routinely punishes minor marijuana more severely than does the Sunshine State. Under Florida law, marijuana possession of 20 grams or less (about two-thirds of an ounce) is a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to one-year imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. Marijuana possession over 20 grams, as well as the cultivation of even a single pot plant, are defined by law as felony offenses – punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. In recent years, state lawmakers have revisited the state’s marijuana penalties – in each case electing to enhanceFlorida’s already toughest-in-the-nation criminal punishments.

Ironically, despite the Sunshine State’s long history as one of the nation’s stiffest pot prosecutors, law enforcement have steadfastly refused to report their annual marijuana arrest data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Illinois is the only other state that elects to withhold this information from federal statisticians.

4. Louisiana. On May 6 the Associated Press reported on the case of Cornell Hood II, who received a life sentence for possessing two pounds of pot. Hood received the maximum sentence under Louisiana’s habitual drug offender law because he had three prior marijuana convictions, although none of them were significant enough to result in even a single day of jail time.

Multi-decade sentences for repeat pot offenders are hardly a rare occurrence. Under Louisiana law, a second pot possession conviction is classified as a felony offense, punishable by up to five years in prison. Three-time offenders face up to 20 years in prison. According to a 2008 expose published in the New Orleans City Business online, district attorneys are not hesitant to “target small-time marijuana users, sometimes caught with less than a gram of pot, and threaten them with lengthy prison sentences.”

Each year, cops make nearly 19,000 pot busts in the Bayou State – some 91 percent for simple possession – and according to Gettman, only three other states routinely punish minor offenders so severely.

5. Arizona. Forty years ago virtually every state in the nation defined marijuana possession as a felony offense. Today, only one state, Arizona, treats first-time pot possession in such an archaic and punitive manner.

Under Arizona law, even minor marijuana possession offenses may be prosecuted as felony crimes, punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $150,000 fine. According to Jon Gettman’s 2009 analysis only Florida consistently treats minor marijuana possession cases more severely.

Annually, some 22,000 Arizonans are busted for pot and 92 percent of those arrested are charged with possession only. Citing the rising costs of these prosecutions at a time of shrinking state budgets, first-term GOP House lawmaker John Fillmore (Apache Junction) recently introduced legislation, HB 2228, to reduce pot possession to a non-criminal petty offense, punishable by no more than a $100 fine. So how did his supposedly “small government, no nanny state” colleagues respond to his proposal? With “a lot of smiles and laughs,” Fillmore told the Phoenix New Times. Predictably, HB 2228 failed to even receive a legislative hearing from his fellow lawmakers.

“Mellow” Alligator Guarded Marijuana Stash in Southern California

Police in Riverside County, California recently made a raid in which they seized 2,300  cannabis plants that were guarded by a “very, very mellow” 50 pound American alligator. The marijuana grow is worth an estimated $1.5 million, and although gators are illegal to own in California, authorities say they are becoming popular pets.

This doesn’t seem like much of a security system, especially a “mellow” gator (maybe he was sampling his owner’s product). But even an aggressive gator can only be so fast and easy to kill for someone who really wanted that weed. More than likely this guy – who was released on $100,000 bail – enjoyed the novelty of having a gator on his property as opposed to a sophisticated security system.

I guess having a four-foot alligator is cool, but if you’re serious about protecting $1.5 million in cannabis, some cameras and locks might be a better investment.

http://the420times.com/2011/03/mellow-alligator-guarded-marijuana-stash-in-southern-ca/