CannaBug
- 12
- 3
I am extremely sad to tell you about the recent experience of a friend of mine, who we shall refer to as John. Last week, while other states in this country were legalizing and decriminalizing marijuana, John was arrested on marijuana possession and paraphernalia charges and kept in a county jail for three days.
The story begins when John, a graduate student with a fiancee and a baby less than a year old, goes to the manager of his apartment complex with a complaint about an individual in the complex that he believes is selling drugs. He has seen lots of traffic going in and out of the apartment in question, which is located just across from his own, so naturally he is concerned for the safety of his family.
Now, John is not a drug dealer, he is not a drug user, he is a student who likes to smoke some weed. That’s it. But it is that fact that probably allowed him to recognize what was going on across the way. What led from the comment he made to the apartment manager to the five uniformed city cops and one sheriff knocking on his own door a few days later is unknown to me.
The six officers, according to John, essentially bullied their way into his home. He had been sitting on the couch on a weekday afternoon, actually not feeling very well, getting ready to head to a class when he received the knock on the door. Without even checking he opened the door and was greeted by said police forcing their way in.
He was quickly taken into custody for nothing more than a couple of pipes and less than one ounce of weed. While in custody John describes being treated like scum, being forced to strip down and subjected to invasive searches. What makes this truly disgusting is while in custody for those three days, another man was brought in for a non-drug related offense, violating the terms of his probation. While sitting in the cell this man pulled a sack of marijuana out of his pocket that he then proceeded to flush down the cell toilet in front of John.
Everything about my friend’s experience makes my skin crawl. Did I mention that his apartment manager has since evicted him and his family? Not to mention the money yet to be spent on lawyers, fines and court fees. This experience will stain John’s life for years, and the entire thing essentially comes back to him telling on someone else and ending up in trouble himself.
I’m just not sure what lesson I am supposed to take away from my friends experience. Everything about this just tells me to not tattle on other people and to never involve the police, and I’m not really sure those are right either. Unfortunately, it is a lifetime of experiences just like this one that have left me so distrustful of the people who are supposed to be protecting and serving.
https://cannabug.wordpress.com/
The story begins when John, a graduate student with a fiancee and a baby less than a year old, goes to the manager of his apartment complex with a complaint about an individual in the complex that he believes is selling drugs. He has seen lots of traffic going in and out of the apartment in question, which is located just across from his own, so naturally he is concerned for the safety of his family.
Now, John is not a drug dealer, he is not a drug user, he is a student who likes to smoke some weed. That’s it. But it is that fact that probably allowed him to recognize what was going on across the way. What led from the comment he made to the apartment manager to the five uniformed city cops and one sheriff knocking on his own door a few days later is unknown to me.
The six officers, according to John, essentially bullied their way into his home. He had been sitting on the couch on a weekday afternoon, actually not feeling very well, getting ready to head to a class when he received the knock on the door. Without even checking he opened the door and was greeted by said police forcing their way in.
He was quickly taken into custody for nothing more than a couple of pipes and less than one ounce of weed. While in custody John describes being treated like scum, being forced to strip down and subjected to invasive searches. What makes this truly disgusting is while in custody for those three days, another man was brought in for a non-drug related offense, violating the terms of his probation. While sitting in the cell this man pulled a sack of marijuana out of his pocket that he then proceeded to flush down the cell toilet in front of John.
Everything about my friend’s experience makes my skin crawl. Did I mention that his apartment manager has since evicted him and his family? Not to mention the money yet to be spent on lawyers, fines and court fees. This experience will stain John’s life for years, and the entire thing essentially comes back to him telling on someone else and ending up in trouble himself.
I’m just not sure what lesson I am supposed to take away from my friends experience. Everything about this just tells me to not tattle on other people and to never involve the police, and I’m not really sure those are right either. Unfortunately, it is a lifetime of experiences just like this one that have left me so distrustful of the people who are supposed to be protecting and serving.
https://cannabug.wordpress.com/
