How Not To Get 35 Years For Pot Possession
Smith County (East Texas) judges and juries have long had a reputation of meting out severe, some might say ridiculous, punishment for drug convictions. And Henry Wooten's case is no exception: the 54-year-old Tyler man was sentenced Thursday to 35 years in prison for possessing slightly more than four ounces of pot. Wooten actually got off easy -- the prosecutor asked the jury to give him 99 years. (We just hope TDCJ can free up room for this menace to society; maybe the state can release a child molester or serial arsonist to find a cell for Wooten.)
While the sentence may be asinine, we can't help but feel Wooten brought much of this upon himself -- mostly by choosing to be both a pothead and live in Tyler, when clearly that calls for an either/or scenario. But Wooten could have taken at least a few steps to minimize his chances of being busted so easily, and Hair Balls would like to lay out a few of these so that other lovers of the weed in Smith County can take heed.
1.) Don't smoke weed within 1,000 feet of a day care: According to the Tyler Morning Telegraph, "Tyler police officers were alerted to Wooten's location because of the smell of the marijuana."
Wooten was puffing near the Ebenezer Day Care Center, in what is known as a "drug-free zone." People in Smith County don't like that. So if you're driving along and you get a sudden urge to light up, take note of your surroundings: if you see lots of parents walking children into a building and then leaving without those children, you might be parked near a school or a day care. Do not, under any circumstances, pack your bowl there. Just go to the nearest liquor store, and you can bet you'll be outside a drug-free zone. Enjoy!
2.) Don't let people see you pull a bunch of baggies out of your pocket: Per the same article, Smith County Assistant District Attorney Richard Vance told the jury "Wooten pulled bag after bag from his pockets like one of those clowns you see..." (see Rule No. 3 for the rest of Vance's quote)
3.) Don't leave gear in plain sight in your care: "...and in the driver's seat of his car was a big bag and digital scales."
4.) Don't demand that a private lab test your weed: Although Wooten was perfectly within his rights when he asked a local lab to analyze his weed, we're guessing he probably annoyed the judge and the prosecutor, and in turn the jury, by this petulant ploy. It's pretty hard to mistake weed for anything other than weed. Did Wooten think the lab might screw up and report that the sticky green matter in the baggies was in fact spaghetti? Seriously, how fucking high was this guy?
We're not saying these are get-out-of-jail-free cards, but they're generally good rules of thumb. If you live in Tyler and you smoke weed, you might want to print this out and keep it in your pocket for future reference.
(Oh, and don't have two prior convictions on your record. Or, if you do, don't go doing what this guy did.)
Five Things You May Know About Marijuana That Arent True
How many of these myths have you heard of?
1. One joint equals a pack of cigarettes.
This hoary old favorite comes back again and again, seemingly impervious to the onslaught of the real world.
Prohibitionists earnestly tell us that smoking just one joint “equals a pack of cigarettes.” Or maybe it’s 16, or maybe just four cigarettes; they seem a little unclear on the exact number.
This fallacious conclusion is derived from a study by Dr. Donald Tashkin in which the UCLA researcher examined airflow resistance in the lungs of tobacco smokers compared to that in the lungs of marijuana smokers. Dr. Tashkin did find that daily pot smokers experience a “mild but significant” increase in airflow resistance in the large airways, greater than that seen in persons smoking 16 cigarettes per day.
But what they don’t tell you is that, ironically, Dr. Tashkin also found – in the largest study ever of its kind – other, more important markers of lung health, in which marijuana smokers did much better than tobacco smokers. In the four years since Dr. Tashkin’s latest study results were announced, I’ve never heard a single anti-marijuana speaker mention this.
They also never seem to have time to mention that Dr. Tashkin’s study unexpectedly found that smoking marijuana – even regularly and heavily! – does not lead to lung cancer.
Dr. Tashkin said these results “were against our expectations.”
“We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use,” Dr. Tashkin said. “What we found instead was no assication at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect.”
Weekly DJMix #5
Please don't forget how busy I've been, if you are mad because it takes me 1-2 days to update, then use the contact form and become an author. My life is rather busy as of late. Stay tuned.
DJ AndOne - Dirty Dancers (MP3 link)
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Legalize Marijuana in Canada (and everywhere else)
Marijuana needs to be legalized soon; Canada's prohibition is causing too many problems to be the right choice in our country. We need to regulate and control the production and sales of marijuana. It will create a safer community and get rid of the black market. There are so many medicinal benefits of the drug and it would be insane to keep it illegal for any time longer. It's time for a change.
A regulated market for the production and consumption of marijuana would reduce crime tremendously and give people a safer way to buy what they already do. All the drug dealers would be put out of business, and the jails would empty out. Millions of people smoke marijuana in Canada and the number is rising. Prohibition has failed for over seventy-five years, and it's not a method we should be using. Marijuana is the largest cash crop in North America, and it's being grown and used all over the world. Not only would it be safer to buy marijuana from a store or something similar, but it would also reduce the amount of money going to gangs, and anyone else involved in the illegal drug trade. Also, we would know exactly what is in our marijuana, whereas the black market there can be many harmful things added to it, such as glass particles, harmful chemicals, and other drugs. We have to try our very hardest to tax and regulate marijuana, for the many benefits it will bring to our country.
Prisons all over the US and Canada are filled with offenders who have been charged with something to do with marijuana; be it trafficking, possession, or cultivation. The sad part is that marijuana smokers are some of the nicest people around. Sure, many of these people are probably gang members and criminals as well, but the majority of these offenders haven't even harmed a bug. The result of all these arrests is very expensive to our countries. The tax payers would have to pay a lot less, because the money we can make on taxing marijuana could double the amount the government makes. Not only will the jails be emptier, but we wouldn't need to pay taxes to jail all the marijuana offenders. It's a victimless crime, and we shouldn’t be putting people away for it.
Marijuana is a totally harmless drug, and there are so many medicinal benefits to it. Compared to alcohol and tobacco, marijuana isn't even on the chart. Alcohol and tobacco have millions of deaths around the world each year, and the number of deaths resulting from marijuana is zero. Seems pretty strange such a harmless drug is illegal when two legal drugs are killing people all over the world. Now keep in mind, smoking anything is bad for your health, but there are a few alternatives to avoid smoking. You could ether vaporize, or cook the marijuana in to your food. Now people like to smoke marijuana to relax or for fun, but many people are consuming marijuana for their health. The THC can cure many health issues including, but not limited to; cancer, nausea, vomiting, stimulation of hunger in chemotherapy patients, and pain in many sorts of diseases. The pure THC oil created from a weed plant is almost a super cure for anything, but there are a few reasons you don't see or hear about it. First of all it's still illegal to produce, unless you have a medicinal license to grow marijuana and make it yourself. And one of the craziest things is that medical companies won't produce it. The reason for that is the fact you can't patent a plant. So technically you can't make any money off it, so they chose to use dangerous harmful drugs instead. Marijuana needs to be legalized, not just for the recreational uses many people like, but for the many medicinal attributes it has.
Marijuana laws are in dire need of a revision. Canadians need to do speak out, protest, and get the country thinking. The money that the regulation of marijuana could bring in, could supply more police, better health care, new safer medicinal drugs, and free up our prisons. Marijuana needs to be legalized soon, because this prohibition is harmful for our country and the people in it.
That’s a lot of ganja! 34,000 lbs in fact. Mexico marijuana bust: Millions of dollars worth of pot seized
TIJUANA — A trailer that presumably transported cookies was apprehended with more than 34,000 pounds of marijuana at a Mexicali checkpoint, the Mexican Army said Tuesday.
“With this seizure we prevented the illicit marketing of more than 7 million of marihuana doses,” Alfonso Duarte-Mujica, commander of Baja’s Military Zone, said of the seizure that took place Sunday night.
The Army estimated the street value of the pot to organized crime at about 231 million pesos (U.S. $18 million).
The Mexican Army also confiscated the trailer and arrested the driver. He was identified as Mario Lopez Castro, 34. Lopez told Mexican authorities he was going to collect 50,000 pesos (U.S. $4,000) by delivering the truck from Mexicali to Ensenada.
The trailer, with no commercial signs, was detected at the El Chinerito checkpoint located on Federal Highway 3, between San Felipe and Ensenada. Inside the trailer, the weed was found in 1,435 brown packages behind cookie boxes.
Duarte-Mujica said that the pot was supposed to be delivered in Ensenada, but it is uncertain if the final destination was Tijuana by road or San Diego over seas.
Tania Navarro is SDNN’s Tijuana correspondent.
Weekly DJMix #4
Sorry I missed a week or two, life has been busy. Although I have a new mix for you all. Check it out!
Prepare to have your speakers raped by the straight up mainroom house and banging electro of Ravage. Bomb after bomb is dropped by the electronica elite, such as Axwell, Deadmau5, Basement Jaxx, TV Rock, and even Snoop Dogg’s gangsta flow gets the electro treatment!
DJ StreX - Ravage (MP3 link)
South Dakota Voters Could Legalize Medical Marijuana
Tuesday, thousands of signatures were submitted to South Dakota officials which could bring the issue of legalizing medical marijuana to a public vote in November. The South Dakota Coalition for Compassion turned in more than enough petitions to put the issue on the ballot. They've been collecting the petitions for over a year now with a door to door search for signatures as well as other methods.
Patrick Lynch is in support of legalizing medical marijuana and suffers from M.S., which can be treated by medical marijuana. His mother and sister also have M.S. and he's hoping the issue is on the ballot and passes. "The pros far out weigh the cons on the medical marijuana issue to where if people really truly understood it they would be more receptive of it"
There were around 32,000 signatures collected which is almost twice when compared to what's needed. The validation will be done by state officials with random sampling and if enough signatures are valid it will be on the November Ballot in South Dakota.
Darcy Jensen works with people dealing with drug addictions. She thinks that South Dakota would end up like other states when it comes to this issue and struggle to control is. She's also worried about other issues that come with smoking marijuana. "When we have a pill we can take and know exactly how much we'd be getting, why would we get smoking something when how people inhale it how much they put in the joint, what was the quality of it, we can't measure those things."
Pure Genius
Sure, it's not about weed, but this is truly a work of genius and it happens to be damn funny.
You see, a girl called Katie tells her parents that she found a dozen beers in her kid brother’s room which gets him grounded for 3 months. Harsh. Chris now has plenty of time on his hands so he rummages through her room and finds this little list of pure goodness which he promptly posts on Facebook and tags all the guys.
Click Pic
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