i kind of want to share something that is sort of personal but has occupied me for a while. As many of you know, i have a prescription for marijuana. It is legitimate, and not a front for recreational use. I have diabetes, and before it was diagnosed properly, i got major nerve damage to my extremities, which flares up in a painful way sporadically, particularly if i eat something with a high glycemic index. I was given pills for it from my internist, but the pills made me sicker than a dog. He suggested trying pot for flare-ups. Given that i was familiar with it, but had not partaken for 40 years because my job was subject to drug testing, i gave it a shot since i am retired. it worked. I started growing it, legally, because i am a student of plant genetics and wanted a strain that did the pain relief without getting me all fucked up, as i don't like being "high" in the 60's sense. The active ingredient is CBD for pots positive effects, THC is the psychoactive fraction, and the production of the two is genetically regulated.
Anyway, on the 4th of july it was hot out, and i went clam digging at the coast, and without thinking i had a big piece of watermelon. The sugar in it sent my feet afire, figuratively. I partook at the end of the day. I put the little vial of pot and a pipe away, but my companion put it back in my suitcase, as i was leaving from there to go to a reunion in Minnesota the next day, and she figured that i would not likely be watching my diet close enough as i was traveling alone. I was at the Oregon coast, and oregon has fully legal marijuana laws, which had gone into effect on July 1st.
Fast forward to a day later... i entered idaho at about 8 in the morning. Suddenly there were lights everywhere and i got pulled over from out of a stream of traffic. The state trooper mumbled something about i had not merged properly, and then said "I see you are from northern California, so i bet you have medicinal marijuana on board". Before i knew it, my car was searched and he found it. I was shitting bricks, as i was in a Mormon county in idaho... the cop bullied me and started interrogating me in a bizarre way (i have a law enforcement background and was incredulous at his actions) he went nuts when he found, in the back of my car, a squirt gun that was clearly colored as such, which we had been playing with at the beach, saying i should have told him i had a weapon.
Anyway, after threatening to have my new car dismantled for hidden contraband, he wrote me up for controlled substance violations and paraphenalia, and gave me a date to appear back in idaho.
In idaho, medicinal pot is not recognized, and has the harshest marijuana laws in the nation. Jail time is common for first offenders, as there is little distinction between heroin, cocaine, or the weed i legally grow in my yard. They have a cottage industry going in busting people for pot, as neighboring Washington and Oregon have it legalized, even for recreational use. I didn't know they had squads at the borders.
The clerk of court sent me a thing warning me to get my affairs in order and come prepared to spend time in jail when i reported for my appearance date. I had visions of a Mexican prison in my head, as i checked the blogs of people who had suffered the same treatment, and most of them did at least a week in jail. I have never been in jail, and was scared spitless, and there is basically nothing in life that i am afraid of.
I drove the 11 hour drive back there on thursday for the friday date with destiny. When i got there, the clerk of court told me that i was in major trouble and told me that i was subject to 6 months in the pokey.
But as luck would have it, i went in to plead guilty, and i got what is probably the only liberal judge in the state of idaho. The first guy into the court was a guy in a cowboy hat and a copenhagen ring on his vest pocket, i figured i was fucked. But he was some sort of clerk. Then the actual judge walked in, and he had slightly longer hair and a demeanor that said "i am not a dumbass redneck mormon". He told me that he would accept my pleas, but said that i had two easy defenses that would cause dismissal, but since i didn't get counsel, he would be fair. He said that i had been profiled, as there was really no reason that i was pulled over other than the fact that i had california license plates, and since i am not a longhair or counterculture type with no priors of anything, and that the search was not legitimate. he apologized for the state of idaho and wished me a good day on my drive home. I damn near laid rubber out of that town, and made a beeline for the nevada border and a few cocktails.
My lesson is that profiling really, really sucks, and i didn't understand how unfair it is until i got hit with it. california plates alone made me the one cut out of the herd and picked on. I can only imagine what being a black kid in a beater car is like. I knew how to not escalate with the state trooper, but it took all of my resolve to not point out the errors of his ways. Cops seem to get rewarded for being bullies sometimes... i saw that the guy who profiled me had got an award for nailing some california cartel guy with a major smuggling load, and somehow he considered anyone on the road a potential award for him, particularly californians. i was so relieved at not doing jail that i continued my luck into the night and won a bunch of money at the card tables. And thinking again about how annoying it is to be profiled and messed with.
