How do they justify breaking your shit? I mean, yeah, take the drug money. But taking a blade to the carpet is fucked up. At that point why don't they break down the dry wall where you could be hiding kilos of contraband. These raids are a Stasi wet dream. They literally had nothing better to do that night than violently invade your home. It is insane how much they spent on the raid, besides the cost to you, to stop a small time pot man. What kind of business is that? They'll never break even off you. The insane part is how blindly they follow orders that they disagree with.

Fuck them. They wouldn't smash the mayor's sheet rock. The emperor's clothes are that strange clear plastic. The paratroopers at Leipzig in '89 found their humanity.

shit man really sorry to hear that. Had they only put marijuana on the warrant they may have had a much harder time of getting a judge's signature (as a result of amendments to marijuana legislation in states across the country) and leads me to believe that is the reasoning that Oxy was put on the warrant. The officers can use hearsay evidence in order to justify the beginning of an investigation so that can merely say that they have reason to believe that you are distributing Oxy. Keep your head up and thanks for your service man.

The best part is the hypocrisy of the raid - pharmaceutical drugs ruin lives....the lack of detrimental health impacts resulting from marijuana use and abuse (not to mention all the effective & beneficial medical applications of marijuana oil), one would think that the legislatures across the globe would wake up and stop the failed war on drugs - check out some of the statements made by the former secretary general of UN on war on drugs. I guess there is just more money in locking people up than keeping them high...not to mention continue allowing for the funding of terrorism through the importation of drugs from Latin America through Africa. If the police are so worries about people using synthetic opiates then why not raid the CEO of DuPont or Johnson&Johnson?Such perverse thinking when it comes to addressing peoples inherent desire simply to change their mental perspectives. Anyways sorry for the rant.....studied a lot of legislation pertaining to international drug policy and domestic Canadian drug law. really sad to see good people going to jail when its those who facilitate the drug trade (BANKS - check out the history behind the creation of HSBC) that need to be the ones at the wrong end of the spear of justice. good luck ken

I know this isn't a conspiracy.

Well, your midnight raid was the outcome of various conspiracies. Firstly, the fact that possession and distribution of a harmless plant is a criminal offence. Why? This is not something that happened without corruption at a high level.

Secondly, the fact that half a precinct of paramilitary police can burst into your home without warning because they suspect you may be distributing marijuana is a grossly disproportionate response - you are not harming anyone. How are things like this possible in a rational society?

How do you plan on going off the grid? Any ideas?

I moved back to India from living 10 years in Toronto. Its easier for me coz I'm Indian. But am planning to do some farming and self sustainable living as well. Consider travelling if you have the money/time. Might give you alternate ideas to consider. Good luck, I'm sure you'll do well!

therein lies the rub

Perhaps you missed the Oxy comment? There was reasonable suspicion that he was trading in more than a "harmless plant" with very little long-term research conducted into long-term health risks (funny how people cry for an endless barrage of long-term studies into GMOs, yet want weed legalized without any research into its health risks).

weed has been around for millenia, There doesn't need to be any research to see that marijuana is infinitely more safe than prescription drugs or narcotics. All you have to look at is the death count. Sure research on weed would be fantastic, and perhaps if it were legal it would be easier for research labs to get their hands on it!

Oh I forgot the only metric of the safety of a drug is if it kills you instantly. I mean fuck developmental, mental, and physical issues that can develop from chronic drug use amirite?

Lots of things have those issues but are still legal. If we're allowed to kill ourselves with tobacco/weed/pharmaceuticals we should be allowed to try with weed. If it was truly about our well-being then tobacco and alcohol should be illegal as well, but it's clearly not about that.

Ever heard of fetal alcohol syndrome? Look that shit up bro . Just because a thing is dangerous does not mean it should automatically be illegal. That's some D.A.R.E mom shit

Got my house raided 2 years ago. 3lbs, 20 hits of acid, $17k cash, .5 gram of DMT. Started out trying to make ends meet, moved up rather quickly.

When the cops came to bust me I was respectful, cracked jokes about firemen being the real heroes (which they thought were fucking hilarious), and chain smoked cigarettes on my front porch while they searched (and took) everything including my computer and phone. After they finished up, I was expecting to be taken to jail, but they just kinda left and said they would be in contact. No paperwork or anything was given to me.

Over the next several months I had my lawyer constantly check the court records to see if anything had my name on it, but nothing ever manifested. Fast forward to about 5 months ago (1.5 years since the incident) and I get called down to the police station and am sat down with a detective who tells me that they had been keeping tabs on me and texting my phone number with fake requests for weed (which I didn't respond to). Tells me that the officers vouched for me just being a broke, nice kid paying through college and that all the charges would be dropped so long as I didn't mind a probation officer coming by my place randomly for a few months. I agreed (who wouldn't) and they returned my computer, old phone, and (get this) a clean bong that I had on a shelf in my room. Never heard a word about it again.

If you really are a disabled vet who was doing it to keep yourself afloat and were respectful towards the officers (even better if you made them laugh), go to the court house, sit down with the DA and explain your situation to him or her. They'll work with you and I would bet my cock that you could get it knocked down from a felony with huge fines to a misdemeanor, small fines, and community service.

Things like this aren't part of the "police state", it's usually just the local police force doing the bidding of stay-at-home-mom local bureaucrats while also trying to make some cash off the offenders in the process. You have to understand that looks are everything in the eyes of local police. If they had busted down my door and found a stereotypical trap house inhabited by a stereotypical burnt out dickhead instead of an unassuming Korean kid with a bunch of homework and textbooks everywhere, I would probably be telling a very different story.

Bottom line: Local police is not the police state, its a bunch of guys trying to keep the community looking like the squeaky clean BS that concerned mothers want. Go speak with the DA and get sorted. +10 if you are white and seem like an upstanding citizen. Good luck.

No problem man. Always sucks to see someone go down because of archaic prohibition laws, but it's definitely manageable.

Also, forgot to mention, but see if your state has anything resembling a "prayer for judgement" clause. They usually reserve it for petty misdemeanors and the like, but recently I've seen it used more and more for small time weed dealers who initially get felony distribution charges. It essentially allows a defendant to plead guilty to a crime, without having the plea entered against them. It is a win-win situation, because the prosecutor can count it as a conviction, but in general it does not count as a conviction against the defendant. If your state has something like that, you should only have to deal with court costs, no fines or fees.

i wonder what they did with your shit and the cash...

Civil forfeiture no doubt haha

No offence but are you white? Cause this sounds at odds with my perception of how a police raid that intense would go for others

Damn, man, sorry to hear it. Nobody deserves that kind of treatment. Strange days.

Dude, if your dealing drugs, make sure you have the best shit. That way the police just keep it and have no evidence to charge you. Theyre people too. And do dope too, or know people that do, and pay good money for it.

If you got the 'meh cheap shit' you know your going to jail or going to be charged, because they thought they were going to score and now they are pist you had crap. Its definetely getting turned in as evidence.

If you had the fire, they wouldn't have "found" the pills or the weed. They would have taken it, but they would have said theyre was nothing there and you wouldn't have been charged with it.

You know what the smart drug dealers do about the police? Make em partners. You have to or run the risk of your freedom. Look how Big Pharm funds the FDA. Same difference.

This was my family, all though before my time. I still know the stories. He wasnt mentioned in the article, but he was the reason the vigilantes were "re-assigned" and why the Chicago Tribune wrote Tacoma an ode on how curropt WE were.

http://tacomastories.com/2005/07/20/the-1946-tacoma-vigilantes/

If thats not pure balls, I dont know what is. Kinda ironic in that my family came from sicily to Chicago in the 1920's. Some moved west.

Have you consulted the sentencing guidelines as to the mandatory minimum on that?

Go get yourself a lawyer and find out what you are facing.

I don't think the feds go below 5 years on weed.

Good luck.

The fines I will incur for this, will set me back, but they won't even cover a portion of the cost of the raid

What do you mean by this?

Cover might not be the right word. He means that the cost of repairing his shit will be much higher than the fines.

EDIT: Actually now that I re-read it, he probably means that the cost of the raid for the police is much higher than what they gained from the fines.

I mean no offense to this (and seriously, thank you for your service), but i wonder if being a vet had anything to do with this... Even if it was just one more mark on their checklist to "justify" the raid...

please expand. what did they ask?

therein lies the rub

please expand. what did they ask?

Perhaps you missed the Oxy comment? There was reasonable suspicion that he was trading in more than a "harmless plant" with very little long-term research conducted into long-term health risks (funny how people cry for an endless barrage of long-term studies into GMOs, yet want weed legalized without any research into its health risks).

I don't think the feds go below 5 years on weed.

Good luck.

weed has been around for millenia, There doesn't need to be any research to see that marijuana is infinitely more safe than prescription drugs or narcotics. All you have to look at is the death count. Sure research on weed would be fantastic, and perhaps if it were legal it would be easier for research labs to get their hands on it!