If you were on a jury, could you convict someone of pot possession?
-
Robert Amos: I'm not really in favor of marijuana being illegal because I think there's a lot of other things out there that are more important...So probably not, unless it was something really violent like if it was involved with organized crime.Hook staff -
Jenny Phillips: I feel strongly that marijuana should be legal, but if I was on a jury, I'd also like to think that I'm rational enough to apply the law as it stands.Hook staff -
Mike O'Laughlen: It depends on the scenario...if a user is behind a large automobile/machinery, and are unable to react to the street environment, yes, they should be convicted. But it doesn't have to be as black and white as "possession."Hook staff
This week's cover package
• Not guilty: Jury acquits in two pot-plant case
• Intimidating? Copter may have encircled Cobbs pre-trial
• Jury nullification: The elephant in the room
• Controversial constitutionalist: 30 years of defending the people
• If you were on a jury, could you convict someone of pot possession? (this story)
Read more on: marijuana
18 comments
Only if the evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that they did indeed possess pot.......... the last time I looked, it is against the law to possess marijuana
It would depend on whether or not I was intimidated by the Asst. Commonwealth's Attorney.
Are you going to hover a black helicopter over my house until I say yes?
If they say Amurica is under attack, I'm going to go torture brown people.
If Zug says he'll prosecute me if I change my story, I'll stick to a lie.
Jury nullification has a long, sometimes noble and sometimes ignoble, history in this country and any statements from judges and prosecutors that it is somehow forbidden are simply state sanctioned attempts at jury tampering...
As a jury member I would have in my mind right from the beginning that nullification might be an option if it became clear that "impartial application of the law" was going to result in an injustice. Sketchy laws like drug prohibitions, drawn as they are from moralistic/religious posturing by politicians, are special cases which invite this sort of treatment....
It's amazing that we live in a world where the FDA approves drugs with dubious efficacy, known side-effects, and high risks for addiction, but uses the SWAT team to bust people enjoying an herbal remedy with immediate efficacy, no side-effects, and extremely low risks for addiction.
Not only that, we tolerate the use of alcohol, which carries significant health risks and dangers of addiction; and tobacco which kills thousands every year and carries a very significant risk of addiction. Where is the logic in that?
MJ sparks creativity and personal reflection, it heightens the senses, decreases pain, alleviates stress/anxiety, and much more. What does alcohol do? It makes you sick and act like an idiot. What do cigarettes do? They make you look like trash and increase your risk of dying a premature death (and please don't claim that MJ can do the same thing, because there is no requirement that MJ must be smoked).
Yes, of course, MJ can be abused and misused. But, so can just about anything in this world. And it's borderline hilarious when people claim that it is a "gateway" drug. The majority of MJ users don't even consider MJ a "drug," and the effects/strength of MJ do not even compare to hard drugs. In fact, alcohol has a far more intense and intoxicating effect than MJ. I'm sure there is a correlation between hard-drug use and MJ, but that doesn't mean there is causation. In fact, the high from MJ is the opposite of what a hard drug user would desire. There is a stark difference between getting a buzz and feeling chill, and wanting to completely escape life. Alcohol binge-drinking serves as a far better gateway for hard-drug users.
One of the classic arguments against MJ is that "its dangerous for kids." Yes, I agree that children should not be experimenting with any sort of drug or intoxicating substance. Why not punish those who supply to children and let the law abiding citizens enjoy a harmless herb? To disagree with this proposition would imply you that also think alcohol should be made illegal. In fact, if you maintain that MJ should be prohibited, then it is purely illogical to accept alcohol and tobacco as legal products--they are simply more dangerous, and the alcoholics of this world do far more damage to their families, themselves, and society than do pot-heads.
If nothing else, can't we all just agree that it is an utter waste of time, money, resources, and a needless line on someone's record when we bust people for harmless possession. This is doubly true when someone's bag came from their own grow. Future generations will laugh themselves silly when they read about this someday.
"low risk for addiction" ???? What are you smoking????
Not crack, you have clearly been misinformed by the media and DARE (and haven't enjoyed any herb yourself). You should be as scared as MJ as you are of caffeine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Drug_danger_and_dependence.png
I didn't mean to poke fun, but until very recently I had severe misconceptions about it myself. I actually thought you could die from a MJ overdose!* I became educated on the subject and did some reading, and I was astonished. I think we've been told by society that certain things are good, and others are bad simply because our culture has been engrained a certain way without any real truth or fact. We will all survive if MJ is never legalized, but I worry that there are other false truths we are being told by the government/media.
*it's physically impossible for this to happen
Yes.
If they were wearing socks with their sandals I would have too.
If you like it so much that you do it all the time, that, my pot loving co-blogger is called addiction.
Only a few actually answered the question...........
Yea well if you have been blogging the hook much you know it's never about answering the question its about standing on a soap box and trying to make everyone listen. It's kind of like therapy.
ANYONE incarcerated for non violent possession of marijuana is a political prisoner.
Not a chance I will convict
OK then, to directly answer the question: Hell no.
For reasons that have been articulated so many times I'd fall asleep typing them again.
It's a plant. It's not refined heroin or crack cocaine or even worse, meth, made from battery acid and lye and fertilizer.. If people want to procure this naturally growing *plant* in a nonviolent way and then smoke it to get some sort of side effect from it, that's their business. It's their body, their business.
And meanwhile alcohol, the real killer, is still legal. Doesn't make much sense. Oh wait, yes it does, when you realize that pot usually makes people mellow and chill and open to tuning in to other aspects of reality, and alcohol just makes people violent and stupid, burns out your liver and can result in the user's death, or others' deaths when users hit them with their vehicles. The powers that be that are running the world and keeping us under their lock and key much prefer the latter substance and results, versus the former. It's been said that the federal government's MK Ultra mind control experiments didn't much care for marijuana, as they discovered that it actually *impeded* the effects of mind control. I guess it's easy to see why the powers that be don't much care for this naturally growing plant that so many people have a fondness for. ;)
The irony of claiming methamphetamine is worse than marijuana is that methamphetamine is legal by prescription and is sometimes prescribed to children. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that marijuana being a plant is somehow relevant: tobacco is a plant too, and it is one of the most dangerous drugs people use.
The problem here is that the war on drugs is being used as an excuse to attack civilian homes with paramilitary teams, to undermine our rights and freedoms, and to expand what is already the largest prison population on Earth. No specific drug is the issue; all recreational drugs should be legalized and regulated, and we should start respecting civil rights.