If it’s any consolation yours is not the only nation with laws and means of applying them created by people who can’t do joined-up writing. The UK is ankle deep in them.

In my very street, in a leafy suburb, we have gangs selling crack and other filth in broad daylight from very expensive cars, prior to driving around a residential area at 90 MPH, three times the speed limit. Police response? ’sorry, not much we can do, strain on resources etc …’ Yet in this town we have had old people busted for exactly the same reason as your friend, possesing a bit of pain relieving bong.

The police here have quotas, and it is easier to feel the collar of someone like your pal than that of a criminal who can play the system. It makes me puke!

I wish your friend well.

Non-toxic plants…it’s just really sad. I can only wish for a good lawyer and some technicality that will set him free.

I believe these laws are unconstitutional based on the 8th amendment regarding “unusual punishment.” When the government PAYS tobacco farmers subsidies, and licenses the sale of alcohol, isn’t it the definition of “unusual” for them to punish for something less harmful? But our elected officials have conveniently categorized marijuana as “Schedule II” with “no known medical benefits”…so it’s mired in layers of lies that would have to be overturned first.

I would argue that most people who are anti-marijuana have never experienced it. Ignorance holds the legal pen.

Not to mention untruthful propaganda, like the recent White House sponsored report of alleged “higher potency,” on Fox News. As if government labs were testing Sadhus stashes in India a hundred years ago! RIGHT! Just another load of lies that get no rebuttal.

And distribution, REALLY? What a crock…

Here is a man who has been a wonderful, responsible, progressive citizen and a real asset to his community, who is being held up to public humiliation for growing an herbal remedy plant that has been used for millennia - one of the most useful plants known. The man has cancer! They should let him grow his marijuana and leave him alone.

I agree, the “War on Drugs” is a fallacy. Criminalizing marijuana only made it a lucrative business for the big druglords and a cash cow for local police departments.

I am considered conservative on many issues and do not use any illegal drugs. Arresting anyone for Marijuania is incomprehensible to me. Legal priorities are way out of sync with reality on this issue.
Any law enforcement agent arresting anyone for this “crime” is a hypocrite in my opinion. These individuals likely have family members, friends, and associates who are guilty of the same “crime” they arrest strangers for if statistics are to be believed.

Arrest does not prove guilt. Accusation does not necessarily reflect truth or facts. Judges and jurors often come to the right conclusion in these matters regardless of what ambitious agents and DA’s put forth.

If pot could be effectively taxed it would be legal.

The continuing mishandling of the drug problems are empowering gangs today as prohibition did the mafia in previous years. Drugs being illegal is a rather modern day thing and was not always so.

Mr. Chance I wish you well.

That’s why every charge regarding more than a crumb of a substance is automatically appended ‘with intent to distribute’, in order to supposedly show that said assets were acquired with money from drug sales and facilitate seizure and liquidation. Quite a nice bonus to a small county’s police budget, as you might guess.

My deepest sympathies go out to Mr. Chance.

I am a supporter of the use of psychotropic substances, especially for medicinal purposes or for personal fulfillment (and one would hope improvement or revelation), but echoing thatericn, it does become a different matter when/if distribution or sale for profit enters the equation. (though as I don’t have the ability to synthesize some of my Ifavourites i do rely on those who can,and thus am horribly hypocritical)

I intend to send my support however I can, if only in messages of support, should criminal proceedings continue.

These were charges, not a conviction.

And the headline writer at this newspaper did a disservice by publicly attempting to ridicule Bob’s Bigfoot links as the lead. For us, it is meaningful, but you all know why they did this as a headline, right?

My understanding is that Bob hasn’t been manufacturing or distributing drugs and certainly isn’t a public nuisance. I’ll keep you posted on this as I learn more, officially and unofficially.

Possession? Shrug.

Distribution? Not much sympathy here.