This is
NOT Justice
Terminal Cancer Patient Headed To Jail For Growing Marijuana
A terminal cancer patient in Iowa was convicted of numerous marijuana-related charges this week.
Benton Mackenzie, 48, will spend the next several years in prison -- and possibly die there -- if he is unable to successfully appeal his convictions for production of marijuana and conspiracy to distribute. Mackenzie says the plant helps him in his battle with angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer of the blood vessels.
- See more at:
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/d...QHTZw.dpuf
Quote:This is NOT Justice
Terminal Cancer Patient Headed To Jail For Growing Marijuana
A terminal cancer patient in Iowa was convicted of numerous marijuana-related charges this week.
Benton Mackenzie, 48, will spend the next several years in prison -- and possibly die there -- if he is unable to successfully appeal his convictions for production of marijuana and conspiracy to distribute. Mackenzie says the plant helps him in his battle with angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer of the blood vessels.
- See more at: <a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/drug-law/terminal-cancer-patient-headed-jail-growing-marijuana#sthash.mw7QHTZw.dpuf'>http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/drug-law/terminal-cancer-patient-headed-jail-growing-marijuana#sthash.mw7QHTZw.dpuf</a>
Agreed. Pretty sad and disgusting in many senses for us as a society.
The nonsense that is our judicial system is a travesty. In Iowa go to jail, in Denver police are handing out Doritos at a weed fest. How can a judge or jury put this man in jail?. I know I would not if I was on the jury no matter what the laws are in Iowa.
I think he could have had a better chance at defense if he only had a few plants in his possession. But they seized 71 plants....its kind of hard to explain that.
Quote:I think he could have had a better chance at defense if he only had a few plants in his possession. But they seized 71 plants....its kind of hard to explain that.
Yeah...it's the conspiracy to distribute that's getting him.
Quote:I think he could have had a better chance at defense if he only had a few plants in his possession. But they seized 71 plants....its kind of hard to explain that.
If he is extracting CBD oil, 71 plants is not all that many as the process renders very small amounts of oil from a plant.
Quote:Yeah...it's the conspiracy to distribute that's getting him.
In Florida all it takes for conspiracy is for one to have some weed and a box of sandwich bags in your kitchen cupboard. You can have your personal stash and a small digital postal scale in your home office and be had for conspiracy whether you were actually selling or not. The varying state by state laws regarding weed are an utter disgrace for the judicial system IMO.
The sad part is he was denied a defense. He could not defend himself in the court of law. The judge took that away from him. If he brought up anything about him being terminally ill and the reason for growing the plants then he is in contempt and would be thrown in jail. That is insane.
Quote:In Florida all it takes for conspiracy is for one to have some weed and a box of sandwich bags in your kitchen cupboard. You can have your personal stash and a small digital postal scale in your home office and be had for conspiracy whether you were actually selling or not. The varying state by state laws regarding weed are an utter disgrace for the judicial system IMO.
Would 71 plants be for personal use? I don't know if that's a lot or not.
Quote:The sad part is he was denied a defense. He could not defend himself in the court of law. The judge took that away from him. If he brought up anything about him being terminally ill and the reason for growing the plants then he is in contempt and would be thrown in jail. That is insane.
Very insane!!!
Quote:Yeah...it's the conspiracy to distribute that's getting him.
As Jagwired noted, it can take a lot of cannabis to make concentrate, especially if the quality is not optimal.
This is so ridiculous on so many levels, most of which cannot be discussed here.
Quote:Would 71 plants be for personal use? I don't know if that's a lot or not.
In addition to what I posted above, there are cannabis strains high in CBDs and very low in THC. If he was growing that, there was no street value beyond medical use.
Quote:Would 71 plants be for personal use? I don't know if that's a lot or not.
It depends, growing indoors in order to keep a steady supply you will have plants in different stages of growth. having 71 plants might mean only a few mature enough to provide a useable product and the rest seedlings or clones growing toward maturity and it is a constant cycle. Also as I stated earlier if he was truly extracting the CBD oil 71 plants is not a lot even if they were all mature.
Quote:In addition to what I posted above, there are cannabis strains high in CBDs and very low in THC. If he was growing that, there was no street value beyond medical use.
This is what the Charlotte"s Web strain that was approved for medical use in Florida is. You would not get high by smoking this strain.
The war on weed is a joke. The problem is too many people depend on the money paid by the government to arrest and imprison people affiliated with marijuana.
Quote:The war on weed is a joke. The problem is too many people depend on the money paid by the government to arrest and imprison people affiliated with marijuana.
I think we are walking a thin line here for this forum but yeah, that's what happens when you have a prison system that operates for profit. I believe I read that close to 70% of all people incarcerated in the country are on weed charges. Joke is the appropriate word.
Quote:I think we are walking a thin line here for this forum but yeah, that's what happens when you have a prison system that operates for profit. I believe I read that close to 70% of all people incarcerated in the country are on weed charges. Joke is the appropriate word.
Exactly. Legalize weed (a much less harmful drug than tobacco or alcohol) and probably a lot of government employees get laid off.
Quote:Exactly. Legalize weed (a much less harmful drug than tobacco or alcohol) and probably a lot of government employees get laid off.
It's not so much government employees anymore. it used to be, but now in most states the government enters into contracts with private companies to build and run the prisons. The states say we will give you said amount of money per inmate to incarcerate them and operate the prison. The company then incarcerates people at a much lower cost per inmate in turn producing huge profit at the taxpayers expense. Get rid of the inmates that are there on weed charges and there goes 70% of your profit. Those companies lobbyist's make legalization or decriminalization very hard to achieve.
Quote:It's not so much government employees anymore. it used to be, but now in most states the government enters into contracts with private companies to build and run the prisons. The states say we will give you said amount of money per inmate to incarcerate them and operate the prison. The company then incarcerates people at a much lower cost per inmate in turn producing huge profit at the taxpayers expense. Get rid of the inmates that are there on weed charges and there goes 70% of your profit. Those companies lobbyist's make legalization or decriminalization very hard to achieve.
I was not aware of private companies running federal prisons. That is certainly a conflict of interest.
Quote:I was not aware of private companies running federal prisons. That is certainly a conflict of interest.
Yeah there has been sweeping changes in the prison system. There are still prisons that are government controlled at state and federal levels but the majority are not. The privatization of prisons has continued to grow because simply, it is big business. The companies make more money from full prisons, plain and simple. They also cash in on supplying work forces that are essentially slaves to perform contract work as you can see by the crews on the sides of the roads and such. This in turn hurts legitimate companies that provide those same services because of course they can't compete with free as a wage for their employees. As I said, if you can't lock up weed smokers these systems lose an average of 70% of their money makers.