Msg : #2072 [41]
From : Dave Rohde 1:15/24 Mon 16 May 94 00:00
To : All
Subj : Busted For Growing Mj
HI All, we just started picking up the NORML echo here at my local BBS.
I just wanted to relate a story to you that happened to me back in the 80's
I was living in Boise Idaho and due to the increasing prices of buds
I started growing my own. I first grew them indoors and had pretty good luck
although I was only using flouresent lighting. I read lots of books on my new
hobby. I learned how to make them bud when I wanted, how to make clones of
my best plants, how to make hash and hash oils, in fact I became quite an
expert in the MJ field. Then I decided to take my growing expertise outside
and grow my favorite plant under god's great mall. I chose some of my best
seeds from some KGB that I had bought from friends in Oregon. Started the
seedlings indoors, after the last frost in the spring I took my precious
babies out and planted them in their new home which was my back yard. I
nutured them and cared for them just as they were my own children. When the
time came I sexed them and pulled the males and made oils out of them. That
left me five females they were some of the best plants that I had raised.
In late September they were getting some juicy buds on them HIGH TIMES
pictorial stuff. I was at work when it happened, Sheriff "John Brown" came
to where I worked and told me that they had obtained a search warrant for
my residence to look for drugs and they wanted me to come down to the S.O.
to "talk" to me. They asked if I wanted to drive down there or if I would
like to get a ride from them. I asked if I would be coming back?
They said "oh of course you will, we just want to talk to you". "Will you
give me a ride back?" I asked. "Sure no problem" they said. So I went with
them down to the cop shop. Well when we got to the Sheriffs Office there
were my beautiful plants all ripped up out of their roots. They asked me if
I recognized them I said yes but that I was just growing them for my own use.
so they had me go into one of their interrogation rooms, no sooner did I sit
down, then they came back and said "we're placing you under arrest for
manufacturing a controlled substance". SHIT! I thought. So the next day
I went to court the judge released me on my own recognesince (sp). As I got
closer to my court date I got a letter from my attorney saying that the D.A.
was willing to make a deal. GREAT! so I went into a meeting with my attorney
he said the deal was that IF I plead guilty to the charge of manufacturing
the D.A. would recommend to the judge that I get three years in the Idaho
State Correctional Facility. WOW some deal!!! I said forget it. As my court
date got even closer I would go to my favorite strip joint to try and forget
about my troubles one night while there I was telling one of my stripper
girlfriends about the "DEAL" the D.A. was offering. She said well screw them
lets go up to Alaska I've got friends up there and we'll hide you out. So I
took her up on the deal. She paid for my airfare up there to anchorage and
helped me get a job. It was GREAT up there, you'd walk down the street and
in peoples windows you'd see pot growing in front of god and everybody! I
couldn't believe it, here I was hidding from the law for growing pot and
then up in Alaska you could grow your own without being intimidated from
the law. I kept thinking this is the UNITED STATES why then are not all laws
uniform? If it is legal for my fellow AMERICAN brother in Alaska to grow
it why is it illegal for me in Idaho to grow it? Well as time went by I
started getting tired of living a lie and trying to keep one step ahead of
the law, so I decided to turn my self in to the local authorities. I called
the Alaskan State Troopers and told them that I was wanted in Idaho and that
I wanted to give myself up. They asked me what I was wanted for. Growing
marijuana I told them, they just started cracking up laughing. The trooper
said he would contact the Idaho authorities and let them know. Later that
evening the trooper called me back and said that Idaho didn't want me and
that I was welcome to stay in Alaska as long as I kept my nose clean. Wow
I couldn't believe it! I guess Idaho was embarrassed as to their Redneck
standards. After staying in Alaska for a time, my mother took ill so I went
down to Sacramento CA. to be with her. I ended up getting a good job there
as an electrician, after some time there my mother suggested that I make sure
Idaho didn't want me now that I was not living in Alaska. I got a hold of
the Sacramento Sheriffs office and told them the same thing that I had told
the troopers in Alaska. The Sacramento sheriffs told me the same thing that
Idaho didn't want me. Well after a couple of months, I came home one day
from work and my mom told me that a detective had come by and wanted to talk
to me. I called him the next day and he said that Idaho had changed their
minds and that they wanted me. I had the detective come to my home and he
then placed me under arrest, about three weeks later I was on an airplane
back to Idaho. When I got in front of the judge he asked me why I ran. I
told him how the D.A. had offered me a deal and that I just got scared. He
said that I shouldn't have ran, that the sentencing wasn't up to the D.A.
it was up to him. That he usually gave first time offenders probation but
all that has changed since I chose to run from the courts. I went on to tell
him that I couldn't understand why the laws of the UNITED STATES were not
uniform and how Alaska's laws were so much different. Well I guess that
pissed him off cause he gave me 5 years. Can you believe it 5 years thats
one year for each plant I had!!! Well I did three years of my sentence
and was let out on parole. While I was in there I learned a lot of things
Legal and Illegal one thing I found out was that the BASTARDS railroaded me
cause if you go strictly by the law, I not guilty of what I was charged with
"MANUFACTURING A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE". You see technically one does not
MANUFACTURE marijuana, you grow, or by the legal definition CULTIVATE
marijuana. Yes I was guilty of CULTIVATION OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE but that
was not the charge. From what I have learned this is a legal arguement that
will allow a person to beat the charge if the original charge is manufacturing
a controlled substance. Unfortunately I plead guilty to the charge of
manufacturing, when you plead guilty to a charge you give up your right to an
appeal. Bummer I'd have loved making them pay for their mistake $$$. Now
that I'm a free man again, I still smoke the good herb and intend to keep
on smoking and growing I've got a big ole sack of seeds right now. I've
since learned of a new form of planting called GUERILLA planting thats
the way to go I think. Well I've carried on long enough for now TTYLR
MUFFDDIVER
... We just smiled and waved sittin on that sack of seeds!!!
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12