A guy I arrested with 2.75 Ounces of Marijuana. $500.00+ in small bills, a box of ziplock baggies, an electronic scale & cellphone....plead out and got 90 days in county jail. He will serve about 60 days. Had it went to trial he would have gotten 1 - 3 years in prison.

Is 90 days a reasonable sentance for Possession for sales of Marijuana?

It your mind, does it matter that he is an adult male, and I caught him in the act of selling to a 14yo girl at 0220 on a school night?

For the fact that he was distributing to a minor.  He should get life!!!
If it had been an adult I say take(dispose of) his drugs and let him, off w/ a warning.


IMHO

The "Contributing the the delinquency of a minor" and "Cutlivation" charges were dropped as part of the plea bargain agreement.

I don't think the sentence is unreasonable, had he been dealing to adults. But since he was selling to kids in their early teens, I think he should heve been treated more severly than the average dealor.

Considering the uneven application of the drug laws and the great damage done to our liberties by the drug war, I favor legalization.

Therefore, IMHO ANY jail time is too much.  Sorry you work hard and then have some of us  oppose ANY sentence but you asked.

No need to apologize. But do you really think it should be okay to sell marijuana to kids?

No one should go to jail for marijuana.

Added:

But that drug dealing punk should get the same sentence as a liqour store owner that gets caught selling to minors.

No, I don't think anyone should sell marijuana to kids. I do however feel that the penalty should be no greater than, say, buying a kid beer.

I'll go on to say that other than sales to kids, I think it should be fully legalized.

M4,
I'll have to look it up...but I believe you can be sentenced to more than 90 days for selling a 14 yo beer or cigarettes.

I feel that selling marijuana/alcohol/tobacco, and therefore profiting financially, is worse than merely buying for or giving too.

Personally I think pot should be legal for adults. But it's not, and the law is the law.
He did get off way too easy.
8% time served of the maximum??!!

What is a 14 year old girl doing out at 2:20 on a school night?  Doesn't anyone think the parents should share some of the blame here?  Selling drugs to kids is wrong, but I think the cops could find a better way to serve the community.  

Marijuana should not be legalized and it wouldn't matter if the guy were selling to a minor or adult, he got off way too easy.  As mentioned though, since it was a minor there are other laws the prick broke and he'll be out within a month and doing the same damn thing.  

Yeah, he learned his lesson alright.

I completely agree with the above comment.

Also, I'm sure if the democrats would just make a law outlawing selling drugs to minors this whole situation would have probably been avoided. So I'm putting the blame square on them for kids using drugs.

I'm no fan of selling pot to kids but things need to be kept in perspective.  It is also against the law to sell tobacco to kids but how many get jailed for THAT crime?  Cigarettes are more deadly than pot so where is the justice?

The effort spent on "pot crimminals" would be better spent on REAL criminals - property crimes and crimes against personms such as muggings, rape, assault etc.  In most big cites nearly every cop in town could be applied to the gang bangers and do an important public service.  Yea, I HATE gang punks with a passion!  The only vio;ence involved with pot is turf wars between dealers and those trying to steal money to buy the stuff.  Legalization eliminates both of those causes of violence.

Does any of this mean I think people should smoke for non-medicinal purposes?  No.  Sadly all the lies we tell kids about how bad pot is makes our arguments against things like crack appear to be lies as well.  We lose credibility.  Not good.

There has to be different levels of sentences for different crimes.  Example, if I can get life for murder or life for kidnaping, what incentive (other than my revulsion at murder) do I have not to cover my tracks?  Same applies to severe sentences for pot vs say a violent mugging.  High time to re-examine these things.  A felony needs to be reserved for the truly serious, not a $200 tax matter over a 1/4" of barrel length or the melting temperature of silver solder attaching a muzzle device.  The government is out of hand.  Justice has taken a back seat to "the law", reason has been a casualty.

FWIW: Under California a 14YO is still considered a child. Crimes against someone 14 or under are more severe than 15 and up.

....charged w/[red]"Cultivation"....[/red][?]by you?...you sound like a hard-on or a copnewbie.Did he have any grenades,missiles,bombs,or guns too?
.........2 1/2 ozs.of weed?.....I'd bet he was selling J's that scumbag![rolleyes]

Dont they both contain the same or simular carcinogens that have been linked to lung cancer?

Smoking tobacco cigarettes causes cancer but smoking Marijuana cigarettes doesnt?

Where is the anger? There was a thread a while back about some scum having sex with a child, people thought the guy should have been hung, tortured, etc. (I agree). Here we have equal nearly equal scum (how is the little girl going to pay when she is out of money?) and it sounds like some of you (Aimless) are damn near blaming it on the kid. WTF is wrong with you people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No. I arrested and booked on the Possession for Sales charge. The DA added the Cultivation and Contributing to the Deliquency of a Minor charges after reading my report and interviewing the suspect.

It appears that California's "cultivation" law covers everything from growing the plants through packaging the finished product into retail quantities. So, in the District Attorny's opinion, his splitting the 2.75 ounces into individual 5gram bags, is a violation of California's "cultivation" laws.  

I voted NULL because I refused to call the girl a tramp. I used pot in HS and knew LOTS of others that did. All of my girlfriends smoked and none of them were tramps.
Pot should not be a crime in any way shape or form.
You had to bust the guy though, he was dealing to a minor. If it was just possesion I would have let him go and turned it in with no report.
JMHO

You're right. What was I thinking?

It should stay illegal so that there is absolutely no control or regulation on it's sale and kids can buy it on any street corner. When I was in highschool it was easier for people to buy weed than to buy beer, and everyone wonders why more kids do drugs these days.

The dealer should also be executed for perpetrating this victimless crime!

I think we all know the answer to that question. In fact that is the single most objectionable aspect of teenage drug use. Unless you're a drug dealor.

Don't lie to us! You would have smoked it wouldn't you? [;)]

man that guy is dumb. walking arround with more then one ounce of marijuana is a felony and he had 2 3/4 ounces. on top of that he had a box of ziplock bags and a scale... now you know he was selling.

selling to a 14 year old kid..... stupid, too young. In my days of bending the law, we never would have sold to someone that young because if they got cought with drugs you sold them they would nark.

This guy should be in jail for at least 3 years, you arent doing your job.

Personally it sounds to me like the real criminals here are this girl's parents.

If people would just exert a little PARENTAL CONTROL over their offspring, an awful lot of problems would diminish.

Alternatively, maybe we should outlaw the breeding of idiots :)

AR15fan did his job,  the judicial system did not.

Don't have kids do you?
Please read this and tell me if you feel the same way:
[url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=145428&w=searchPop[/url]

[rolleyes]CA[rolleyes]...yep!I thought out there you folks were geting ready(a vote)to make it a ticketable offense if not above a certain weight?.......in that DD's place I'd get the "defintion of cultivation" explaned to the legislators who made that broadstroke!  ........yep right![whacko]

Free a doper and make room for a child molester.

That's Nevada.

In California possession of less than an ounce is a misdemeanor cite & release, which is handled as an infraction in traffic court. The fine for the first offense is about $100.00 as is the fine for all subsequent offenses.

Man, whatis with you?? You're fvcking obsessed!!!! You get your ass spanked on every lame drug thread that you start or wade into.
Now you trot this little example out as yet another pathetic attempt to convince how right and noble you are.
Give it a rest already!! Shit,what's that 3 topics/arguements on the SAME topoic in 12 hours??
You need help- perhaps an intervention or a 12 step progam.
If I see 1 more AR15Fan/drug thread, I'm leaving/boycotting/something. Shesh!

I though you said the fellow that was shot and killed during the no knock SWAT raid was justified for "small amount of marijuana and pills".

Shouldn't this guy get the death penalty?

How come staff here can discuss thier ilegal views here regarding drugs but anyone discussing the use of a DIAS for conversion of a gun to full auto will get the entire Staff smackdown?

I see a large difference between:
"I [b]think/feel[/b] a particular substance shouldn't be illegal"
and
post#2; " where can I buy a kewl drop inauto sear so I can shoot my ar-15 full-auto?? If you tell me. I won't really do it, I just need to know for a school project"

1 is a possible conspiracy charge, 1 isn't.

Good question.

Especially when arms are guaranteed by the Constitution, drugs aren't.

I guess he got what the people in your community wanted him to get.

Maybe you are a little out of touch with the community you serve, if you are upset about his punishment.

Selling drug to kid?....I'll say lock him up and throw away the key!

String him up by his ankles!

Victimless crime, that's rich.  Where did this girl get her money from?  Probably stolen...where will she get it next time?  Steal it.  A good number of the kids on weed wind up moving to more dangerous drugs later on and if you think regulating it and taxing it would make a bit of difference, you are gravely mistaken.  This would be damn near impossible to regulate because of all the home grown shit out there...we'd wind up with just as many cops out there busting the non-regulated, illegal home growers and pot houses as we have right now and your idiotic legalization idea would only wind up costing the taxpayers millions of dollars more in legislation and red tape just to put us right back where we are and a 14yo girl buying dope from a corner.

Your idea is wrong on so many levels, I could only touch on just one.

You know, I've been thinking a lot about guns too.  I own and carry one to protect myself, but I really don't like violence.  Since Pot is illegal, and it seems to have worked so well in preventing people from selling it and using it, shouldn't we do the same thing to guns and just get rid of the violence?

"I am convinced that we can do to guns what we have done to drugs: create a multi-billion dollar underground market over which we have absolutely no control."
-George L. Roman

Legalize, put this guy out of business, and take the money we waste on enforcement/prosecution/detention into something more productive.  It's easier for kids to get pot than it is to get beer.  Ask them.

1) Use and possession of marijuana and cocaine should be legal for persons 21 or older, and sale should be legal for licensed dealers (just like alcohol).  We live in a hypocritical society where one drug (alcohol) is perfectly okay, and other drugs (pot and coke) are evil and need to be outlawed.  And don't tell me pot is a "starter" drug, because I've never known ANYONE who had smoked pot, but had never had a drink.  Alcohol is the "starter" drug, and it's easier for kids to get booze than pot or coke.

2) I've met some 14 year old girls that honestly looked 21, so is the guy supposed to card his customers?  "This is an illegal substance, I need to see some ID..."

Verdict:

The parents of the 14 year old girl should be put in jail for 90 days for child neglect.  Anyone who allows their 14 year old daughter to run around at 2am REGARDLESS of the reason (I don't care if she's buying crack or selling Girl Scout cookies) IS A BAD PARENT AND NEEDS TO BE PUNISHED.  I don't care if you have to lock them in their room at night, keep your damn kids under control and they won't turn out to be scumbags (like the little girl in question).  Show them a little love and maybe they won't be out scoring drugs at 14.  Hmmm, I wonder how she was going to pay for that pot?  Cash or a blowjob?  Give her two years she'll be a drop-out turning tricks for crack rock.  All because her parents didn't give a crap and couldn't be bothered.

As for the 14 year old girl, she needs to go to jail for 90 days as well, for delinquency and for trying to purchase a controlled substance (because she is underage, and apparently a problem child if she's running around at 2am on a school night buying grass).  You think she's going to class tomorrow stoned and on two hours of sleep?  Foget it, she'll ditch so she can stay home and smoke a few blunts.  90 days in stir would do her some damn good.

In fact, lock the whole family up together, that way they can use the 90 days to figure out why they are so fucked up.  Or maybe they'll just shank each other and save everyone else the frustration.

As for the drug dealer, he should go free and his pot, cash, baggies, scale, and cellphone should be returned to him posthaste.  In fact, he should be paid a compensation for the inconvenience as well, and be given a formal apology from the chief of police.

I read it, and I still feel the EXACT SAME WAY.  That was another case of parents shirking their responsibility.  A kid tells their parents they're staying over at a friend's house, and the parents don't place a 2-minute phone call to the friend's parents to make sure it is okay.

The entire issue could have been avoided if the parents simply made a phone call to check up on their kid.  But they didn't.  You know why?  Because they didn't care.  They just wanted to get rid of the little brat for a night.

Not to mention, that 14 year old girls don't suddenly wake up one day and decide to go screw a 25 year-old guy.  She had to have been given the opportunity to meet him and get to know him a little.  In all probability, she'd been running around with older boys for quite some time, and her parents didn't even notice (or didn't want to notice).

Then there's the simple fact that her parents obviously hadn't instilled in her very good values, because she's off having casual sex at 14!  Does it really matter if the guy is 12 or 25??

You can dodge it anyway you want, make all the excuses for the parents, it's society's fault, etc.  IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO THE PARENTS.

Here's a clue people: if aren't ready to sacrifice your time, energy, needs, and desires for the benefit of your child, DON'T HAVE A CHILD.  Parenting is a FULL TIME JOB.  You can't half-ass it.  Your kid'll turn out to be a little shit.

"Smoking tobacco cigarettes causes cancer but smoking Marijuana cigarettes doesnt?"

read the statistics. you can easily answer this question, for yourself.


"A guy I arrested with 2.75 Ounces of Marijuana. $500.00+ in small bills, a box of ziplock baggies, an electronic scale & cellphone...."

so the dude had more cash than you and an evil cellphone! was it a pre-ban cellphone?

you just wasted a little more of your life and lot more taxpayer money to change....NOTHING!

don't get me wrong. i'm not faulting you for enforcing the laws that are on the books, but in the end it is all for nothing. less than nothing, actually.

the girl will continue to get her herb...even as dealer-dude smokes it in the county klink.

to address your original question: 90 days for anything to with maryjane is rediculous, imo. as long as the dude and girl were just burning one down and having a agreeable business transaction....i could care less. that is their affair. it's none of my business untill it affects me.

where were the girl's parents? where have the girl's parents been for 14 years?


"it's the politics of contraband"

The real crime here is the 14 year old girl being out at that time. You should have let the drug dealing scum go and taken the 14 year old girl home and find out why the hell the parents can't take care of her as parents should. I have 3 kids and I damn well know where they are at 2:20 am.

Ar15fan, you have just wasted more of our tax dollars. You have not changed anything. The girl is not going to stop smoking pot, the drug dealer will be right back out dealing more drugs, what have you accomplished? Even at the most insignificant level, you took a pot dealer off the streets for a few weeks, how many others have stepped up to take his place?

I have friends that are cops and they won't bust people for marijuana because they would rather spend their time and energy going after real criminals, you know the people that commit crimes against persons, car theives, burglars, etc... On the other hand, busting marijuana users/dealers is like giving out speeding tickets. You generate revenue for the judicial system and for lawyers.

Sounds like you are a newbie cop that haven't figured out what is important yet. Let me give you a clue - marijuana is not important - don't waste your time with it. Also sounds like you know nothing about marijuana other than what Uncle Sam told you, it was all propaganda, don't believe it. From one Marine to another.

I firmly believe that legalizing pot would eliminate a great deal of this.  Unfortunately you can't eliminate all bad things completely.  I look upon this in the same manner as an adult obtaining booze for a kid.

Also, WTF is that kid doing out at 0220?  As someone else said, you should have marched her little butt home and reamed the parents a new asshole.  You should have locked THEM up for contributing to the deliquency of a minor, child abuse, child endangerment, and anything else you could think of.

Yep! we can't have anyone brewing beer, distilling alcohol, or growing tobacco at home either!

Better git on them thar Revenuer fellers to start busting up more stills!


Let me see, electronic scales, zip loc baggies, cell phone, and $500.00 cash...yep, I've got all of that in my house, and an arsenal of guns and ammo, and several pounds of gun poweder too!  Y'all better put me behind bars before I get away.  Heck you could even get me for having alcohol and keys to a vehicle, everything needed to go commit a DWI.

Wake up!

You assume to much. I am not a crusader or social worker. I do not care about "changing things" or helping people. I do my job becuase it pays well and becuase it is fun. When it's no longer fun, I will quit and do something else I enjoy.