Wednesday, September 08, 2010

It's Personal

The policy of fucking up anyone's life over marijuana is always makes me very angry. However, when it is a kid, and one that I know and have known for years...it's much more personal.

Got a message last night from the child who was my son's best friend since third grade. These kids used to spend every day and nearly every weekend together playing video games. They never got in a speck of trouble...for anything. They were neck in neck to be valedictorians at their high school. My son left to go to another school for his Jr. & Sr. years, so we never got to see which one would win.

Apparently while this kid was home from college for the Labor Day weekend he was arrested for marijuana possession. He is being charged with a felony.

Now, this is his first offense for anything...ever. The amount of marijuana was not enough to trigger a felony charge. It was, as I said, his first offense so the felony can't be based on number of priors. The marijuana was not packaged for resale. So, why the felony charge?

According to what he told me he did not make a statement to police. But, the narcotics pig who attempted to conduct the questioning wrote out a statement and forced/coerced him into signing it. He does not know what it says. He was not allowed to read it. He did not have an attorney present. Since he is just a kid he probably didn't know enough about his rights to assert them.

Someone please explain to me what is gained by fucking up a kids life for a little weed? This kid is just starting out in life. He turned 18 only a few months ago. He is in his first semester in college. And now he is charged with a felony. A felony will bar him from federal student financial aid, which will likely end his college career. A felony that will make him practically unemployable, even though he was one of the brightest kids in his class. A felony that will screw up his life in a royal fashion....for absolutely no justifiable reason.

I am doing everything I can to help him.

Be careful out there kids!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loretta, all kids should have to take a class in how to handle law enforcement and excercise their constitutional rights when stopped or questioned. It is sad that our law enforcement had become an enemy instead of a protector, which is what the "war on drugs has created"! My fiance has a bright 23 year old son who has 2 pot arrests and is having a very hard time getting it together because of a couple of 'mistakes". I wrote to you a couple of years ago when I was terrified after having been arrested for marijuana possesion at a concert in Orange Beach Al. I got throught the court system and had the charges dropped, but the experience was terrifying. I am a 49 professional and it could have ruined me. Stop this insanity

Don said...

Right now, I’d say this young man needs a very good attorney.

Anonymous said...

My oldest started his second year of school in tuscaloosa last week[ political science] before he left for the first year i made him watch that film Know your rights it was put out by the ACLU. If you have kids starting to drive or that are moving away for the first time it's some good info for then
to have.
And dont bet that your kid does not smoke just because you never caught them.
Think about the stuff you got away with as a kid.
It is pretty sad when a parent needs to worry more about their kid being abused by a cop than worrying about if the kids getting good grades.