CHP file photo of marijuana
(Press Release) On Friday, April 11, 2014 at approximately 7:30 PM a California Highway Patrol officer assigned to the Bridgeport office made a traffic stop on a white, 2010 Toyota Corolla for a mechanical violation of the California Vehicle Code on US-395 northbound, just south of Hot Creek Hatchery Road. The officer contacted the two individuals in the vehicle and notified the driver of the reason for the stop.
The officer immediately recognized the odor of fresh marijuana emitting from the vehicle. The officer conducted a probable cause search and located a large amount of marijuana in the trunk, a concealed digital scale, as well as a large amount of cash concealed within a suitcase. Charles Grey Jones, age 20, from Alpine, California, the driver of the vehicle, claimed possession of all marijuana and cash within the vehicle and presented a doctor’s recommendation for marijuana.
After questioning Mr. Jones, the officer determined the amount of marijuana possessed exceeded any reasonable “medical necessity”. The amount of marijuana, along with the style of packaging of both the marijuana and cash, led the officer to believe Jones intended to make the marijuana available for sale. Jones was subsequently arrested for multiple felony and misdemeanor charges related to controlled substances and booked into the Mono County Main Jail in Bridgeport. The passenger was questioned and released to drive the vehicle.
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The article did not say he was driving impaired, nor did it say he was arrested for driving under the influence.
He was arrested for having more pot then needed for medicinal purposes and having money and a scale.
Unfortunately the guy that was arrested is probably is to young to afford a good lawyer. With a good lawyer and less then eight oz. in his possession he would walk.
He should have kept his stash sealed in mason jars and locked in his trunk.
I see how the reasoning goes with you. Breaking the law is just fine. The only mistake is getting caught. Nice high standards of citizenship you maintain.
Dude, Please get over yourself. “And what about those of us who do not want to be forced to share a society with addicts and stoners? I guess we have no say. I don’t want to live around garbage like that. But it appears we have to suffer to accommodate the bad habits and lousy judgement of others.”
That is the biggest crock I have ever heard. Id much rather be around a stoner, stoned out of his mind, than a dumb drunk, drunk off his a$$ on Jack Daniels.
Weed>brown poison. Let me guess, you probably think the same thing about gays….
Once again, are those really the only choices?
BK
Poor assumption. Being gay doesn’t impair the senses, motor coordination or ruin your memory. It doesn’t drag down your productivity and make you a lousy worker. And you have no choice about your sexuality. Pot and harder drugs, however, make you less productive, less aware of your surrounds and less capable of responsing to those surroundings, and you very much have a choice whether or not to use such drugs. Drug abuse and sexual orientation are not even distant analogies.
I used to favor legalization, though you might not believe that. But the more I have to deal with drugged out waste products in life, fortunately not at work, but it seems everywhere else, the less patience I have for these people and I certainly do not want to see more people getting stoned on pot and losing their ability to function in a competitive society.
How about innocent until proven guilty Desert Tortoise?
RAM…..I’m thinking having that concealed scales didn’t help his cause much either….or all the cash…..
I don’t smoke weed or smoke anything anymore, but I used to in the 70 & 80’s. In my mind pot is a hell of a lot safer to use to relax than alcohol, cigarettes and all those prescribed pain killers being tossed around legally. Take pot out of the equation for our war on drugs and people might actually start taking it seriously.
A little pot is really no different than a little glass of wine. I know.
The pot you used compared to what is available today is like comparing near beer (70’s pot) to vodka.
D.T. I don,t think so. It might have more THC , but it,s still about how much a person consumes.
Trouble….not true….back in the old days you could smoke a full joint or two…and still be able to somewhat function….try that nowdays….three or four hits on a bong or a pipe and you got your doors to your house locked,hopefully unable to find your car keys,and more or less done for the rest of the day and night….unless going out in public and making a total ass out of yourself is what you have planned for the evening.
I’ll admit the scale doesn’t look good but it doesn’t prove he’s guilty.
All the cash? We have no idea how much cash or pot he had.
I believe there wasn’t a lot of cash or pot or they would have mentioned it had it been a worthwhile amount of either.
Like …. like…. duuuuuuuuude. That’s like my “medical” maryjooowanna duuuuude. Now waddammi sposed to do?
I think a stoned driver would driving much slower. So your chances would be better.
“After questioning Mr. Jones, the officer determined the amount of marijuana possessed exceeded any reasonable “medical necessity”.
So it takes a doctors recommendation to legally buy and use marijuana, but a law enforcement officer can determine an amount exceeds reasonable medical necessity by just asking a few question?
Per Health and Safety Code Section 11362.77, a qualified patient or primary caregiver may possess no more than 8 oz. of dried marijuana per qualified patient.
So the scale was for weighing out medical marijuana used for cooking and the money well… it’s just money used for paying bills, purchasing fuel, and buying junk food to cure the munchies.
In the picture the weed looks like it’s in baggies, perhaps because it’s of different types. If those are gallon baggies, they’re not full. And if they’re smaller baggies they’re still not full. It just doesn’t look like a lot of pot to me.
What a waste of law enforcement time. Cite him for the vehicle code violation and send him down the road.
History repeats itself; the best indicator of a person’s or society’s future behavior is their past behavior.
Recently, while researching the history of tobacco, I came across some interesting information. My initial source was Snuff and Snuff boxes by M.M. Curtis, which was published in 1935. This book has fine sections on tobacco use in Aboriginal America, its introduction in Europe, and so on. Similarly to the Marijuana use and legalization issues we face now, tobacco faced many of the same issues early in its introduction to Europe.
Tobacco was first introduced to Europeans in 1492 when Columbus landed in the Americas.
In 1571, A Spanish doctor named Nicolas Monardes wrote a book about the history of medicinal plants of the new world. In this he claimed that tobacco could cure 36 health problems.
http://academic.udayton.edu/health/syllabi/tobacco/history.htm
Rodrigo de Jerez was imprisoned for smoking because it was thought he was possessed by the devil.
http://www.omg-facts.com/History/The-first-European-smoker-was-arrested-b/50173
Eventually smoking and snuff use became prevalent by everyone including Kings, Queens, and nobility.
I believe history deserves a good look and that a truly open mind is willing to objectively consider discussion points opposed to their own.
Lets all keep our heads and consider that society has been faced with very similar decisions in the past.
Thanks, Mongo
It didn’t work out so well either, did it. Be honest. Smoking hasn’t helped anyone. It is one of those flithy habits that mankind would be much better without. It kills the smoker, cuts their productive years short, saddles other with the cost of their health care as they die an earyl death and degrades the health of those around the smoker with second hand smoke. There is no benefit to anyone. It is selfishness on the part of the smoker.
So now we will further degrade ourselves by making pot legal? Just beautiful. And what about those of us who do not want to be forced to share a society with addicts and stoners? I guess we have no say. I don’t want to live around garbage like that. But it appears we have to suffer to accommodate the bad habits and lousy judgement of others. Not just that, but what kind of worker and what kind of citizen and voter will a stoner be. Not a good one I am sure. Nice. Why even bother working hard any more?
I gotta break it to you, you are already sharing a society with addicts and stoners.
BK
Benett, .
Smoking is stupid and pervasive stupidity is no justification. But it’s the large corporations like Philips and BAT and cohortes that exploit that stupidity through our very effective and persuasive media.
Movies, TV all glamorize stupid behavior like smoking, drinking, fast driving in cars that are way too powerful and drugs and lets not forget violence as the final arbiter of conflict.
“This” World society is ignorant and gullible and that is what “We” need to stand against.
There’s your “We” and “This”….
Not willingly BK, and I prefer to see them rotting in a jail cell then sharing my workplace, working on my car, serving my food, doing anything related to my money, investments or savings or driving the same roads I drive. We do not yet legalize such degrading behavior and I sincerely rue the day we do. It will hurt everyone, including the honest and hard working people who have enough good sense to stay away from that garbage. Why do people defend it so ardently?
DT said…
Why even bother working hard any more?
Good question…
A similar question I ask my self is “what is the point.”
My answer for both questions is…
“To achieve and maintain a high quality of life with balance in the areas of family, work, and leisure.”
That is my personal goal.
And that high quality of life you talk about is dragged down by waste products who get stoned, won’t work or work poorly, and are more concerned about their next high than in being good citizens. You can’t be an educated and aware member of a representative government if you are stoned, and that has implications for our ability to govern ourselves, does it not? Why knock yourself out if your stoner neighbor or co-worker is going to ruin your hard work? I have no use for them.
Desert Tortoise….And another thing….some say and act as if pot nowdays is the same as it was back in the 80’s…when it actually was possible to work and function after a joint or maybe two if you were sharing it…able to go out and have a good time,maybe carry on a good conversation with someone…and dare I say it,even able to safely drive a vehicle as long as you weren’t too stoned…..but fact is, today’s marijuana is not the same as back in the 70’s and 80’s…and whoever says it is never did it back then….if anyone doubts that….if you were a hippie back in 1975 and smoked weed,and don’t do it now,but feel it should be legalized and no big deal if it were,what you should do is hook up with an eighth of TODAYS weed…..smoke it….and see what it does to you….and see if it’s the same as it was back in 1975.
…my entire life is leisure…
…we already know what kind of voter they will make — we elected George W. Bush TWICE!!!
id much rather be hit by a stoned driver then a drunk driver
Fabulous choices.
BK
Double post sarcasm…
Snirk, snirk…
Wouldn’t you rather not be hit at all???
BK
Let me get stoned drunk before ya hit me please.
Now there’s an intelligent statement! Tell that to the CHP officer who was hit by a stoned drug (marijuana) pusher on the coast Hwy in the Rincon area a few years ago and was made a parapalegic. And tell it to the parents of a high school student who was killed in Westlake Village by a totally stoned woman while the student was stopped at a red light in front of her school. And thousand of other deaths by drivers stoned. I’m not condoning alcohol but don’t think stoned drivers are any less dangerous.
What the hell’s going on up there in Inyo county when you have people who make idiotic statements like the one above? They don’t call it dope for no reason.
Mtn. Man,
I agree that it is idiotic to drive while in any impaired or distracted condition. Be it texting, alcohol, prescription meds, emotional catastrophe, Marijuana use etc. Right now there is much discussion in all media regarding driving on marijuana. On TV a while back I watched an experiment in which several respondents driving ability was tested before and after using marijuana. I believe three of the respondents exhibited reduced motor skills while one respondent who could be characterized as a heavy user actually improved.
I have stated many times before on this blog that “as someone who frequently encounters dangerous situations on 395 completely sober, I find marijuana or any impairment completely unacceptable.” In saying this I typically receive many thumbs down hits on the like/ dislike tab. Many times I have smelled Marijuana burning in the car in front of me on 395. As someone who has a great deal of respect for my life and the lives of others I find this very troubling. Impairment while driving is against the law because it poses a significant public safety issue.
I’d rather not be anywhere near either one. Inertia doesn’t know the difference between pot and booze.
I am wondering what a “large amount” means. Why can’t the say how many pounds of weed and how many dollars in cash?
One more year Wayne and then it will be all legal. Except for the ” mechanical violation” of course. I wonder if it will be legal to smoke while riding bare back naked?
Trouble….If it’s going to “all be legal” in a year,what are these (alleged) dope dealers going to be doing to make a tax-free living and EARNING their money ?…Oh,wait….I know…..They’ll STILL be (allegedly) dealing their dope and making a tax-free living by selling their product for less than the prices charged by the “pot stores”……The question is what will the Doctors that hand out those med-cards like candy be doing for a living….maybe trying to be real doctors ??
Wayne, Tax evasion and legal Marijuana cultivation are two separate issues. Not everyone who cultivates Marijuana would evade the taxes associated with said cultivation. Also, not all people who evade taxes use Marijuana. I believe that many who are now growing the legal limit at home are using the profits for bills such as mortgage, food, gas, credit cards, car payment etc. For these people it would be dangerous to evade the taxes; the income would be obvious because of recorded bills being paid.
Much of the trade now occurs at dispensaries operating with state and local licenses. It would seem foolish for this type of business to not keep very clean records, pay taxes, workman’s comp, etc.
On the other side of the argument, it is my understanding that many dispensaries operate solely on cash. However, if we were to Google “Medical Marijuana Visa MasterCard” we might find that much of the income is documented as CC sales and that these dispensaries keep cash out records of their suppliers which would be available to auditors.
Lets also consider other businesses that are subject to tax evasion charges due to the prevalence of cash such as restaurants, flea market sellers, liquor stores, etc.
Please do not take offense, I only present this point of view because I believe your argument is misleading.
I understand being opposed to something we’ve always called “dope” being sold on the open market, yet if I am to be open minded, non prejudicial, and compassionate to those who believe they need it; I need to consider and pay special attention to the new policy elect regarding Marijuana.
So far I have observed very little damage and quite a bit of benefit to those I know who are on the card program.
Respecting the legal rights of those I agree with, and those I don’t.
Mongo
It’s obvious you are not an idiot, but rather an enlightened mind!!!!!!!
Mongo….It’s nice to think those growing marijuana and selling and making profits on doing so are also thinking of being good U.S. citizens wanting to do their part and paying their taxes on the income they’re making….but I don’t know…..I’m guessing in about 99.9 % that’s not the case…or will be if marijuana is legalized.I’ve known people in my life that deal weed that have very nice cars and/or trucks….nicer houses than I have….and able to buy things that many can’t afford,and not one of them have ever gotten a letter or phone call from the IRS asking how they are able to afford these things…and if they were,lots of different ways they could explain or get around it….most of them hold or held enough side-jobs or income to cover. I’ve read that if 50 % of the population that either work under-the-table or deal drugs were to report it and pay taxes on their profits this Country would be out of debt in less than two years.As far as the medical marijuana issue,I agree with you…if it does help those dealing with cancer and other serious diseases’,I’m all for them able to buy it and use it….but not how it has turned into and was intended for….and,allegedly, this case here is a perfect example of that.
Wayne,
Here is a first hand account:
I know an antique dealer who had a $1200 a month mortgage and $300 a month car payment. He declared less than $18,000 on his tax return and was audited. The agent was able to establish verified income of over $50,000.
Last night I Googeld “medical marijuana visa mastercard” and learned something.
Initially MJ was thought by the CC companies to be an illegal transaction, so they denied dispensary’s from using their cards. Cause and effect, dispensary’s were all cash. Now according to the news, this has changed. Policies regarding CC purchases of MJ have been relaxed and dispensaries are reporting a large percentage in CC sales.
I believe that prior to legalization your statements would be true. However, now that MJ can be obtained safely and legally at a dispensary; objective reasoning would conclude that much of the business is now above board at a dispensary.
Now may be a good time to read about long term cost benefit analysis of MJ legalization and use in the “coffee” shops of Amsterdam. Perhaps there we can all find experienced opinion that suits our own beliefs about the new and emerging policy.
There will always be cheaters in every line. I imagine many of them will cheat in different ways based on their own constitutions and beliefs.
Wayne, the doctors are handing out those cards” like candy” because they don’t see the harm in legalizing it either. It’s a herb, not a drug, they learn those things . Talk to Al Capone about the tax issues.
Even though they are handing them out like candy, doctors still hand out more prescriptions for heavy narcotics then recommendations for medical marijuana.
No, Trouble, they hand those “prescriptions” out like candy because they make money off each one and do very little in the way of actual diagnosis, meaning real work, to write each one. It is easy money, aided and abetted by the naive apologists for them, such as you. Grow up.
I’d rather have marijuana being transported than the lab-produced products of modern chemistry. MJ is nothing in comparison which is why it will eventually be legalized in all 50 state and enforcement efforts can focus on the product that is much more dangerous. Regulate MJ like alcohol and tobacco.
Brian..The main reason will be IF it’s legalized in all 50 states is what better way for the Government to make mega-tax dollars than to tax future generations to an addictive substance ?….just like alcohol….just like tobacco….just like they are going to try to do with E-cig fluid,once they find out or admit it IS a way for those that smoke to either cut way back or quit.
Agree! You make such good sense.
I wonder what medical problem the 20 year old had to get his doper card…ingrown hair on his face, sprained finger. I’m sure the truth of the matter is the kid was a dope dealer out to make some easy money….
Roy I got my doper card by telling the Doc my eyes hurt when you wear high heels.
Yes I’m joking, but to back up your post it is that easy.
never the less, he’s innocent until proven guilty right?
Roy! that doper comment of yours is a sad sign of the all the arrogance our society has placed on over thirty million of our fellow citizens. do you call everybody that takes a drink a alcoholic?
Oh wow man… =
Oh boy !!!…..Here we’re gonna go again !!!!…..three…..two…..one….GO !!!.
Yeah, that’s right, here we go again, Wasting tax dollars (officers resources, courts resources etc….) all just because “we the people” can’t come together and tell the state/feds to decriminalize or legalize and tax….
In every social movement you always have those who are hanging on desperately to the old ideas, we saw it in the woman’s movement, civil rights movement, we still see it in the gay rights movement and we see the same desperate attempt from the “narrow-minded” to fight against the emerging public on the issue of pot.. Yeah I said it “Narrow-Minded”.
Look at Colorado Folks! a recent study just came out that presented data on how in the first two months of this year there was a 14% DROP in overall property crime compared to the same time last year…oh and not to mention the 14 million the state received from the first month, 14 million for schools, hospitals, fire departments… Yes I know, facts don’t change everyone’s mind, but it can change enough to see some social progress…
Marijuana is illegal. In California, marijuana is illegal. Marijuana is illegal in California. One cannot own, sell, or consume marijuana in California. Yeah, seems like no matter how I say it… It is illegal to own or possess, sell, or consume marijuana in California. It’s this pesky thing called a “LAW” that we all live by and that governs our lives. I don’t care for it either, but it’s a law. Until it is legal, we should follow our God given right to vote it into law. But for now it is illegal. Jeez! Didn’t you watch ” School House Rock” when you were a kid? We don’t live in Colorado. If you want your canibis, you should move there. Otherwise, quit commenting on things that you can’t do anything about. (I’m just saying)…
…Just read where the Feds closed down some of those pot shops in Colorado…..guess they were buying from the Columbian cartels and selling to the citizens of Colorado…..and some were saying how if pot is legalized it would run the cartels and black market out of business……..where it looks like it actually gets them a bigger and better profit without having to sneak around so much doing it….swell…another Foreign Country feeding off the addictions of the addictive nature and wants of some U.S. citizens….just what we all need to be dealing with.
Wanye, your conclusion and mine couldn’t be further apart. were you raised on Mars?
And why is it illegal? Why was interracial marriage once illegal? How come we have to have movements just to have a fair and balanced society? Because we are far from perfect and still have a long way to go…
The only law I respect is the natural order of laws that we are all bound too (nature’s laws), you know, the things that actually sustain life, unfortunately these human laws contradict the laws of nature and can leave us in a state that NO human law or regulation can fix!
If you believe in climate change, or the fact what we do have a effect on this planet because capitalism see’s our planet as a inventory of goods to be profited off of, if you consider any of that? then understand Marijuana is one of the best resources we have on this planet to mitigate climate change and a more sustainable resource to produce a lot of what we consume today, and you think that is just a joke or funny your a lost cause and probably watch too much mainstream news.
Marijuana is beyond just a substance in the “drug use” category, but peoples perspective will not allow them to see any further then what the police man tells them.
If only the feds would take it off the “class 1 drug” status, american scientist and researchers could study it, but since that isn’t the case, we have to rely on studies from over sea’s to tell us what this plant/resource really is and what it can do for people…