Marijuana is a weapon for the Fascists

In 2017, an 18 year old girl and 2 friends were at a Coney Island park in Brooklyn. A police search revealed marijuana and klonopin. The driver was arrested, taken away, raped by the two officers then released. The cops got 5 years probation.

I wonder how that arrest went down. Was the trio smoking a joint? Were they about to smoke a joint? Was the smell of marijuana the probable cause that led to a search? Was there actually a smell of marijuana or was it a lucky guess? Was the driver guilty of being an attractive young woman?

Marijuana legalization wouldn't have prevented this girl from getting raped, but it might have prevented her from getting arrested.

In October 2018, fourteen SWAT police busted through the door of Ashlea Burr and Mario Daugherty's Louisville Kentucky home. Aside from the fact that the cops had the wrong address, this no-knock warrant was issued based on Det. Joseph Tapp's claim that he had smelled marijuana outside the couple's home.

In Kentucky, growing up to 5 marijuana plants is a Class A misdemeanor.

That warrant defies all logic, and signals to systemic corruption of law enforcement run amok. Using "the smell of marijuana" as a pretext to deny 4th Amendment rights is a tactic that fascists use more and more frequently and in ever increasing stakes. It was used on me 30+ years ago when I was a patchouli wearing hippie following the Grateful Dead.

We must rescind this tool of the man. Legalize for the economy, legalize for our freedom, but most of all, legalize to disempower the aggressors who are neither protecting nor serving. Legalize to help end racism.

I am aggregating incidents where police use "the smell of marijuana" as carte blanche to carry out a fascist agenda. Please add any egregious examples.

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enhydra lutris's picture

Thanks for writing about this.

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11 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

dystopian's picture

A very effective tool too. How many times has this false pretense been used? Millions is my guess.

Law enforcement lies for a thousand Alex.
A:
I feared for my life, I thought it was a gun, he reached for his waistband, and I smell mj.
Q:
What are the four most told lies that law enforcement is not held accountable for?

Pretty soon it will the only thing to save the economy. Then maybe?

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Pricknick's picture

Here in Michigan, it's unlikely we would have legalized recreational marijuana if it had not been for an intiative. We legalized medical the same way.
I do not see anyone running on the national level that will make it happen. Biden will never do it. In what's left of his own mind, hunter was driven to coke because of weed.
Trump? Who knows what he thinks.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Cassiodorus's picture

where marijuana is legal. Hopefully Joe "marijuana is a gateway drug" Biden won't do anything to disturb that situation.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

longtalldrink's picture

and making it illegal, I can understand. What I can't understand is making something illegal that consenting adults agree to do.

Wait, there's money in them dar hills! Making weed illegal makes the jails nice and full. Was reading an article in Truthout today that 88 percent on blacks arrested in the US are charged with crimes that were non-violent.

Buying stocks in private prisons mean they have to be full...what better way to fill them then to use the throw-away population.

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Well done is better than well said-Ben Franklin