Articles Posted in Marijuana

Good people from all walks of life use marijuana. Good people from all walks of life also get arrested for possession of marijuana. Until we correct the tragic failure of cannabis prohibition pot smokers must exercise self defense and common sense to avoid the wrath of law enforcement.

To that end here is a cartoon from NORML. It’s more common sense than legal advise. Let me add one thing to this cartoon; never tell the police there is pot in your car. If cops ask about drugs, ask for a lawyer. Pot smokers are way too honest and trusting (unlike those who arrest pot smokers).

For the first time in my legal career I completed a county courthouse trifecta. I made an appearance in 3 different county courthouses in one day. This made me wonder what the record is for most county courthouses visited in a day? It can’t be more than 4. All this travel has sapped my blogging energy. Instead of talking about the crazed Dallas ER cop or Sharon Keller, I’ll offer a travelogue.

Collin County

Friday morning, I had a plea in Collin County. I live in Ennis (home of Polka Fest) which is about 65 miles away. Fog and speed traps slowed traffic on I-45. Traffic actual improved once I hit 75. I lamented over the suburban sprawl big box strip mall sameness that is southern Collin County and arrived in McKinney at 9:15.

St. Patrick’s, Old 97’s, and Greenville

I spent my first St. Patty’s on Greenville. My wife and a few friends attended the Old 97’s concert at Energy Square (a parking lot on Greenville and University.)

Our group missed the parade, arriving at 3pm. We did catch the last of the parade goers leaving for their cars. I only saw one person throw up, and one person arrested. For all the complaints about the Greenville parade it seemed the vast majority was well behaved. There was an overwhelming police presence without much criminal presence. The level of law enforcement boredom approached TSA levels.

Recently, I was appointed to a misdemeanor pot case in Kaufman. Yet another reason you should support HB 902, so you can quit paying me to fight this nonsense. The appointment sheet listed the charge as possession of marijuana under 2 ounces; a class B misdemeanor and that bail was set at $100,000.

Convinced this was a typo, I called the jail to confirm. It’s true. This defendant has no holds, no blue warrants, no probation revocation, no other charges and the magistrate set a $100,000 bail for a joint.

One of two things is at play here. Either the defendant royally pissed off the magistrate, or he has some prior criminal history. The former is a fairly rare circumstance. As to the latter. Does arrest for non violent meaningless victimless “crime” + criminal history= trapped in jail with a ridiculously high bond. Is that an equation for justice?

Over 60,000 thousand Texans were arrested last year for marijuana possession. How should we punish our fellow Texans for the “crime” of pot possession?

Support House Bill 902-

Currently possession of any usable amount of marijuana is at least a class b misdemeanor (2 ounces or less), the same level of offense as DWI. 902 would make possession of less than one ounce of pot a class c misdemeanor, basically a traffic ticket. Even if you disagree with the legalization of marijuana, you should support 902.

The medical marijuana bill is making it’s way through the Texas house. HB 164 needs your help to survive.

Medical marijuana is inevitable. The only question remaining is when a MM bill will pass? You may think it is too soon, and that this isn’t the right group of politicians.

I disagree, above all, politicians want to be reelected. Make it your duty to let them know where you stand. Call, email, fax, or write your rep and tell them to support HB 164. Even if Rick Perry vetoes this bill the further HR 164 gets, the easier it will be to pass in the future.

The greatest Olympian of this decade is losing endorsement deals over cannabis use. I have a paltry ad budget, but I am willing to dedicate 100% of those funds to hiring Michael Phelps. Perhaps I could hire Michael to swim the Trinity with a Robert Guest.com speedo.

Michael, you are still an American hero. You have nothing to apologize for. Millions of Americans, including the current and two former Presidents, have partaken in the recreational use of cannabis.

I’m proud to defend cannabis consumers, and I would be proud to extend an endorsement deal to someone with firsthand knowledge of the illogical persecution they face. Shame on the bureaucratic fools who would exploit this situation for political gain. Shame on companies like Kelloggs who would abandon you. And shame on the asshat who sold your photo to the tabloids.

The debate over morality and the law is one familiar to any law student. Every 1L is taught the difference between malum in se and malum prohibitum crimes. The former are crimes that are evil (murder), the latter are crimes that are wrong because the government says so (gambling, pot, expired registration etc).

A recent blawg debate asked “Is it immoral to break the law?” To any person who isn’t paid to convict the answer is an obvious no. Laws are written by politicians, not exactly the moral arbiters of our time. Only the most tortured definition of morality would include “anything the majority passes a law against.”

What is not often discussed is the morality of enforcing the law. When is it morally wrong to arrest and prosecute someone for illegal behavior? Prosecutorial apologists would argue that laws represent the morality of the majority and therefore the enforcement can’t be immoral.

Let me beg to differ. There is a great chasm between the prosecution of consensual crimes and morality. The best (or worst) example is the arrest and prosecution of medical marijuana patients.

Each government actor is culpable, from the LEO who arrests the infirm, to the prosecutor who files charges. I’ve seen this cruelty first hand. This isn’t a morally neutral situation, it’s wrong.

Fortunately, Texans are challenging our government’s ignorance and hubris. One such organization is the Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care.

Here is a Q and A withTCCC director Stephen Betzen.

1. Name/background/resume
Stephen Betzen Director.
My degree in in Marine science from Texas A&M University. After graduating I spent one year as an investigator of environmental crimes in Harris County. I went on to teach science for 4 years in HISD. In 2004 I moved to Dallas and started 2 businesses Faircoffee.com and Ecowindchimes.com which did great till last fall. Though still running these businesses I am looking for a job to supplement my income.

More important to me is how I got involved in the Medical Marijuana movement. Though I never opposed medical marijuana, because I have always believed that doctors should be able to treat their patients and not the government… I did not truly believe in it 5 years ago. In fact I said some things that I regret to this day. My change in prospective came as I watched my wife slowly suffer from an unknown illness. Chronic neuropathic pain and spasming in her muscles became a daily problem and were getting worse. We were going through test after test to find the problem with suspicions of MS, fibromyalgia and others… all eventually ruled out. Doctors had prescribed her opiate medications to address the pain, however she stopped using them because that caused so many problems. The strong opiates and muscle relaxers prescribed were addictive and impaired her cognitive functioning, essentially making her lose touch with reality. Since she was unable to work while on these drugs, she had to stop as she owned her own speech therapy practice and had to keep it running. At this point we were in a very dark place in our lives and had lost almost all of our hope when someone who saw her suffering, an angel, placed a package on our porch containing 2 sandwich bags of marijuana and a letter explaining that she should try it to relieve her suffering.

The results were not at all like I had suspected, rather than looking/acting drugged she didn’t miss one day of work and she was still able to function cognitively in order to perform her duties as a speech therapist. I continued to research it and found that medical science is reporting the same results with few side-effects. It made me angry to discover how distorted my previous views were.
I can not explain to you in words the pain for hearing the one you love most, cry every morning. I can not explain the joy of finding the medicine that worked and improved her quality of life in measurable ways. I can not explain the frustration of knowing that to treat my wife and improve her quality of life, I must break the law.

The following year (2007) I joined Texans for Medical Marijuana in their efforts. Unfortunately they shut their doors that summer, and I felt that we needed to move forward. I contacted other patients, caretakers and advocates and found that they also felt the loss of this organization. So we started the Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care and started the search for a non-profit to handle our funds (I still don’t know the technical term for this, I have heard so many)… not only did the Dallas Peace Center agree to handle our funds… but they took us and our mission in completely, so we are technically a committee (and this is better financially for us).

2. What are TCCC’s goals for this legislative session? What bills are you promoting?
We are focusing our efforts on affirmative defense for patients and protecting doctors, which is exactly what HB164 does. We will work on having a senate companion bill filed. The goal this session is to have this bill pass and become law.

Continue reading

Blawgers are still sifting through the 4th amendment wreckage from the Herring disaster.

How would a similar situation play out under Texas law? Would our exclusionary rule (38.23) protect the public from illegal searches based on non existent warrants?

This brings us to White vs. State, a 1999 case from the San Antonio Court of Appeals. H/T to the TDCAA message board and David Newell for bringing forward this opinion.

Via the Agitator via nevergetbusted.com.

Regardless of how you view the drug war, we should all applaud efforts to rid the criminal justice system of corrupt law enforcement. That’s what makes this story so significant. Until now the libertarian/anti drug war movement has been reactionary; waiting for news to happen and responding. Now those who value freedom have the tools to set up traps for the police. This should make great reality television.

From nevergetbusted.com-

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