A group of motivated citizens in Missoula did it right. If you don’t think a few “buds” is enough to support a marijuana conviction, there’s no better place to express your opinion than in a jury pool. Link it:
A man was on trial for a distributing marijuana charge, but the only evidence presented was 1/16 of an ounce of marijuana. Let me put that in perspective: there are 28.35 grams to the ounce. A gram is about the weight of two fat raisins. Now, take one of those raisins and divided into 8 equal pieces. And there you have 1/16 of an ounce.
So we have a jury trial, and that means the use of ordinary citizens away from their jobs, time for prosecutors and court personnel, and money to pay for it all particularly the defense if the accused had appointed council: a lot of resources for a handful of weed. And that was the point the jury pool made. And to do so, they staged a mutiny.
Only 5 of the 27 potential jurors felt it was right to prosecute the defendant for the trivial amount of marijuana officers found in his house. Granted, the small amount was part of a much larger felony charge (the details of which are not known by this article), but the attitude of the citizens called to do their civic duty were clear. With a smaller pool, the defendant took an Alford plea, where he accepts the guilt without admitting to the charge.
I cannot agree more. People who have a personal amount of marijuana on them should not be subject to a jury trial. At the most, how about levying a fine? How about a few hours of community service? How about not wasting time, money, and effort for a tiny amount of dope when the resources could be better spent elsewhere?
Not all illegal drugs are created equal. Even though many anti-drug activists feel it is hypocritical, there is a substantial difference between harder drugs and marijuana, and there should differences in prosecution and enforcement. Meth? Hammer them. Cocaine? Get them treatment and a punishment that will stick. A dime bag of shake? Don’t give it a second thought.
I realize that I’ve used this soapbox before to express my feelings about this issue, and I am resolved o continue to do so until we start being smarter about using our resources, especially in a time of need as we are now. Municipalities are struggling to make ends meet, yet we continually push to spend revenue and resources to punish folks with a handful ganja.
21 years old. No driving. Don’t act intoxicated in public. You can’t grow it, and you can’t sell it without a license. Sound familiar? Regulate and punish marijuana like alcohol, and spend the time finding crooks doing much more insidious damage to others.
Let me be clear: as an enforcer of laws, I will do so until it is changed. But I will continue to argue for that change until it happens. I hope we have more Missoulas in the future, and maybe we’ll get over our fear of weed.
Chip Grefski
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