An In Depth Look Into Marijuana

How long all your wording to be talking about the legality of marijuana.

The history of marijuana legislation and what the future holds. In regards to the legalization next spring has said on is and this is what you think about him and you'll jump to your thou, and now outlaw law here with Josh Whitaker welcome to the outlaw lawyer. I am Josh Whitaker, one of your cohost. I am joined as usual by Mr. Joseph T.

Hamer hello Joseph hello Josh, I really do appreciate your formal intro including the Mr. and the middle initial Y want to I want to give everybody a sense of professionalism you like were here with top hats and monocle's. Maybe having some sort of fancy tea which attorneys often do. Yes, attorneys and attorneys love tea and if you hear us on the show we're dressed in a full tuxedo suit with top hats. I deftly have my monocle to read my extensive research and notes on the program for today – is the way we would like to keep it formal. We do that for our listeners because we we care that much.

We can make the sacrifice for you guys. The this week to be an interesting week this week we are talking about basically marijuana that's a good summary, Josh. It's a simplification in order to talk about a few different aspects were to talk about the legal history of marijuana in the United States were to talk about recent developments from talk about some conflict conflicting state and federal laws. I will dive into a do one of those deep dives that would like to do on this program and so this came up to me and Joseph spend the weekend thing about what were going to talk about if you needed to show you what we try to do is gonna pull things out of the news take legal tidbits out of the news cases the Supreme Court may decide or look at something that's based on the statute and we can try to look at it like attorneys look at it like it's courtroom arts, before us is as if we were judges and that's gonna what we do.

So were kind of flipping the script a little bit today because we mean Joseph just came back from Las Vegas.

Yes, we took a trip research related trip is all deductibles, all business as it was business related. We did this for our listeners went to Las Vegas and you know if anyone is been to Las Vegas recently, one of the most prevalent things that you you think of almost immediately upon stepping out of the airport or onto the strip is is marijuana because it's literally everywhere. Any well-intentioned young man who gets poured into Vegas he almost have to slap the wheat away from yes it's everywhere and really is made in the smell like a mean has a distinct smell and it like I said it's it's prevalent it's ever present in the streets of Las Vegas because again it's it's legal in Las Vegas and so we we for research purposes took a trip to dispensary or two just to see how they operate strictly for purposes of research for the show. One thing we like to do for our listeners is is really extensively research these topics and make sure were giving you guys the most accurate information possible and so we really wanted to take that field trip to to give you guys the most accurate insight we could to do that hands-on research and so is everywhere.

It's you know in Las Vegas is billboards. The smell smoke or consume on the street. I guess in the casinos to really.

I mean, I don't think there's anything I think technically there's there's gaming commission issues where you're not supposed to be able to do, and they they do enforce that. But again, we saw it we smelled it we it happened.

I think the best way to describe it.

I think technically technically again were not Las Vegas attorneys and in our short period of time in Las Vegas. We did not develop proficiency for Las Vegas law. But in my research because again we do the research. I believe that technically not supposed to smoke in less your own private property and that you're supposed to smoke public property, but in the at the leniency towards it. That's WHAT we are invading nothing at it.

I don't think I saw single police officer so it's it's very lax. So while it may be prohibited to smoke on a public street or in a casino. Obviously, we saw that and it was something that took place and there is just a very, very relaxed attitude towards it. In general, you got me, got me thinking on the long plane ride home, and you everything and you we were to talk about how federal law treats marijuana possession and distribution in and what have you and in the states. You know medicinal marijuana was a big push there for a while and a lot of states in our or are legalizing or decriminalizing possession and and things like that and it's it's kind of an interesting we talk having one episode here recently. We start time of conflict of laws. We had a case where we had Virginia should Virginia law apply our North Carolina law, blindness, the court wrestled with that and so here it's kind of you got a federal law that says no weed and you got state laws that say yes weed and how did those editors come together. How did how does that work that should be that that should literally be the text of the statute is yes weed yeah you know it's one of those things that that we thought about because you you visit these dispensaries and you see people who are, you know there's people who live there. There's regulars of these dispensaries that we talk to in our extensive research. We talked to some of these people that work at the dispensaries and and that one of the gentlemen we spoke to actually said they don't have a ton of of regulars. There's not a whole lot of regular customers that they it's it's a lot of through traffic and people who were visiting the got people come in buying copious amounts of marijuana from these dispensaries and these are people who are in town. I see 3 to 4 days matters for a Vegas trip that's that's enough any less may not be sufficient anymore. It may be problematic for you so you got a lot of people who were hidden. That same window there monotone of these these marijuana products that they probably can't consume completely in that period of time and then their turnaround on airplane their head home.

So what you do with your excess marijuana products. That's kind of the hypothetical unit we as attorneys, we create these hypotheticals and that's the hypothetical that popped into my head.

What you do with whatever weed you brought to get bought that you need to get back home. How you handle that and and that's where that conflict comes into play. And I think important before you get into the nuts and bolts of everything mean a thing is real clear by what's going on in different states and just have a culture that here in 2021 we have a much different idea and thought and feeling towards marijuana than people, even in 1980s I think there's been a rapid development of how it's perceived and you will talk a lot about the history and will talk about why things are the way they are at least were the way that they were there was a lot of media and governmental pushes you know to basically add band and really push against any narcotics in and marijuana, got lumped in with every other narcotic, which again there's arguments were not to do a whole lot of the discussion of the pros and cons of marijuana. That's not what that the podcast is about but but just factually speaking, there were a lot of there's a lot of governmental interference and a lot of governmental agenda pushing as far as really pushing that no drug agenda and then marijuana got lumped in with a lot of harder drugs that that you could argue should be in a completely separate classification and that kind of that is really what shape the narrative around it for so long and it's only been relatively recently where there's been kind of a renewed emphasis on the medicinal benefits that's what's kinda really separated out. I think led to a lot of the advancements in the way that it's perceived today and a lot of the legalization efforts. What I thought again before we get into that the meat of this of this show. I want to see how many terms we can think how many nicknames we can think of for marijuana and not an exhaustive list, just like our top maybe our top three favorite hardtop three is our top three favors are the top three light cool, assuming there is there's like the most popular names and there's just the ones that are like that's pretty cool cool name. There I think favors are three okay three coolest man I've always like the devil's lettuce that's always been one of my that's been one of my top ones recently. Broccoli is is is a way I've heard it referred to that that's resonated with me and you got to go the tried-and-true classic just Mary Jane is simple. It's efficient and it's effective as part of an older generation. I appreciate appreciate Doobie which I guess is not. It is, it is not a generic term for marijuana but I think it works. I like I like Doobie like reefer on our list here that we made like those two items and go this Mary Jane may make my cut will will will share Mary Jane. But again, there's the links that are research go to goes to. It knows no bounds and will be prepared for anything we could do an hour-long show on slang terms for marijuana. If we really want to, that's not what were your unit is culture. This this this vital marijuana culture. This culture that is more accepting of of marijuana is a is a drug that can be used every day or has medicinal value you. You see it.

Movies, television, everything's kinda moving towards a more accepting that everything North Carolina is not you know but but a lot of people are. And I think again bull prediction.

I don't know this for fact but barring some unforeseen development and science that no one is uncovered in the years of marijuana use that have come before the airing of the show. I think the general trend is heading in the direction of nationwide legality at some point, maybe not in the near future. But at some point I have to think that that is the direction this is going to think where within like five years. Things will be a tipping point in a lot of states had referendums like the past year. But to be a point where you know if 35 states it's okay you know eventually you hear the stories of someone getting caught in a state where it's not legal.

With all this stuff and getting all these charges and at some point just got even out. I don't disagree whatsoever, and I think that's the way it's hidden so yeah got a lot of talk about working to dive into this. It's going to be a very very deep topic were to talk about the history were to talk a little bit about every aspect of it and again, really, that intersection between the law and marijuana.

Do you know when marijuana was first outlawed. We do because we googled it next to talk about the legal history of marijuana. 59 1186 that line is set take a message to you leave a message for the show me your are Joseph and will be glad to get back to you how you can email us questions. That's plural questions that the outlaw lawyer.com website is the outlaw you.com and we are on Facebook and Twitter as the outlaw all your so we always would like to hear from you.

We've heard from a lot of you and but but it's it keeps it interesting. We would like to keep a topical and happy to hear from you. But right now you go and get started and kinda paint a picture of how we got to where were at with the, the legality or the illegality of marijuana depending on how you want to phrase it, but basically prior to 1930. If you can get your hands on marijuana. It was yours and you do whatever you wanted to do with it. In the early 1900s there. There became a movement for states to the bands of some of the states kinda took it upon themselves to to ban it, but the first federal restrictions didn't come about to little bit later. That's right, Josh, so there was a time like you said when cannabis and and really, if you're looking back that far. It cannabis opiates, cocaine, all these things that are very illegal drugs today were were basically freely available at drugstores either in a liquid form or as some kind of refined product. The refined version of cannabis was hashish. And you know cannabis was really a common ingredient in a lot of turn-of-the-century patent medicines and you have a lot of these over-the-counter concoctions that could be kinda brewed into proprietary formulas so and back then it was very similar to how it is now. Are you was really kinda difficult to distinguish between medicinal and recreational use because at its essence, the purpose of cannabis is to make you feel good so that's really if you boil it down that's that's kind of the did just out of it so you couldn't at that time, just like now really distinguish between that recreational and medicinal use and you'd see a lot of that was candy. It was cannabis candy you had cannabis liquid.

He had a lot of things that really interweave we thought recently, more so about the smoking of marijuana and it's only kinda been recently releasing a resurgence of the different forms you know we saw some some sparkling water cannabis infused products that bomb bath bomb. He did all that it did. It runs the gamut. Now that's I was back then and I should point out you have before 1930 that the federal government wasn't really involved in it was up to the states and a lot of states didn't do anything, but the practice of smoking marijuana wasn't wasn't very popular until later on into the unit. I guess it's still early 1900s Mexican immigrants are the ones I kinda brought that custom to the United States yeah you know a lot of anti-are a lot of marijuana scholars. We aren't marijuana scholars, but that the marijuana scholars out there a lot of them site the fact that it really was Mexican immigrants that brought that smoking beard and cigarettes are pipes and a lot of the knee-jerk reaction to marijuana. Once that that started to be a thing was really kind of exacerbated by some anti-Mexican xenophobia at the time so it and it doesn't make it right but again that was kind of the prevailing wisdom and that's what a lot of people credit with some of the negative connotation.

The marijuana received after that practice became more prevalent, so we can skip ahead to the present and in present day marijuana is currently a schedule one drug it basically meaning that the government feels it's got no health benefits and a high potential for abuse, so it is treated essentially like heroin like LSD or peyote or ecstasy or bath salts, even yes that was the yeti they want everything together. Now I really wonder how and I guess you that we were a lot back. Yes, we were a lot back.

We were, but you want to have it happen you, and how it all got lumped together like that will lucky for you, Josh. I've done extensive research and we can do. We can tell you exactly how it happened, at least according to the historians but but it doesn't make a lot of sense for you know marijuana to be lumped in with heroin or especially bath salts bath salts do terrible things to people I don't who created vassals. I remember hearing about the you take the bath salts to become a zombie. Got it. Another guy I think bath salts were originally designed at four baths and not for consuming, but it but yet apparently you consume bath salts you turn into a zombie and eat people. The real outlaw lawyer do not recommend it if you try drug not bath salts and I don't think I really ever heard much about peyote until law school is like 90.

We talked about one of the cases. But there's like 9900 cases only use of peyote yeah pay it. Peyote is a strong one, but again lumped right in with marijuana. For the longest time so I think it's good now to disconnect, take a trip through history, we can kinda briefly summarize starting back in the early 1900s and moving for through today. All of the legislative developments in the history of pots legality.

So we start off with the olden days, which we kind of talked about already. Where the baseline position was that cannabis is legal, so the first attempt at any form of real federal regulation came in 1906. With the passage of the pure food and drug act and basically what that I said was that cannabis had to be listed among various other substances that were included in these patent medicines so that any concern customers could kind of avoid it. So this is more of like a soft restriction wasn't necessarily a hard prohibition but it was the first time that we saw any kind of attempted regulation and after this initial kind of soft restriction between the period from about 1914 to 1925, there were 26 states like you mentioned earlier Josh that actually passed their own individual prohibitions of marijuana so and that the thing is that the time these anti-marijuana laws that were passed by the states were really kind of uncontroversial and they really cannot pass without much public outcry are really any kind of legislative debate around them.

Joyce remembered nickname for marijuana that we do and say that would be my third place. Okay Josh supplement your list wacky Tsubaki you don't hear that one much wacky Tsubaki as it is at all time classic in Ahmedabad. I think that's number one in your list now it's up there but get back so prohibition was going OR going on at the same time see you got the temperance campaigners you got people in favor of banning alcohol the course we know they were eventually successful for at least a short time so you got this giant social movement against any kind of fun stuff I guess. Drugs, alcohol I think you said it man, I cannot I'm I can imagine a more exciting person hang out with in a temperance campaigner from the 1920s that would be a way to get one on the show Time Machine bring us a temperance campaigner and just let them ruin our day. So they they got more involved as as they were more successful the alcohol they saw this as being another evil and so we so we saw that affect how the Supreme Court, looked different things and so there was the 1914 Harrison narcotics act. The Supreme Court really interpreted strictly. Yes, like to sit over this whole.

There is really kind of a public opinion shift from that we need as just a another thing that you can use for any kind of a therapeutic purpose to with counted some of those Xena phobic beliefs. Plus, these temperance campaigners at all kinda combines and we see really kind of a shift of the public opinion, and you actually see some governmental officials and some legislators that also start kind of pushing this narrative of the dangers of narcotics in general. And somehow we just gets lumped in with every other narcotic and eventually we actually ate it. It's kind of funny today, but you see a narrative that's pushed where marijuana is literally labeled as an unknown drug that is linked to murder, torture, and just all kinds of horrible cruelty so that minutes is literally how it's written in some of these reports of the time.

That's what people thought it was associated with everything that was an angle I think I think historically if you if you look back at what was going on at the time that that smoking marijuana was a habit of immigrants and in the lower class and I think being associated that way. At that time.

That really help played good. Yet that is one of the reasons prohibition really pushed out. Yeah. And so we talked about sensationalist journalism on past episodes and it's interesting to see that even back in the good old days of the early 1900s it was still a relevant thing in it and it still laid a big part in the way that that the narrative was shaped so writing this whole temperance way we move into the 1930s when you had really one of the nation's top antinarcotics officials that, took up the anti-weed Crusade and he would actually eventually lobby in favor of the marijuana tax act of 1937 and testified in front of Congress, and he actually used a ton of cases, and these were cases of murder, rape and torture.

And he basically use those cases and allege that the individuals that committed these crimes were high on pot as evidence of the dangers of marijuana and then it was a short year later that the scare film the historical classic scare film reefer madness comes out well as that lawyer as long distance people into a panic set in 1937 marijuana tax act was passed shortly thereafter.

And there really wasn't much investigation going on to the safety of the use of the drug, medicinal value, basically all this panic.

This public panic and public outcry, did it is during this time, there's a lot of behind-the-scenes work being done by people firmly guess marijuana discredit any positive evidence of its benefits and push for an end to push for harsher prohibition. So you got people behind-the-scenes high up have decided this is bad and this is the way it was going go there you'll see throughout the history of marijuana. There's a lot of that a lot of behind-the-scenes wrangling from people to just basically look at it one way, with no nuance and kinda keep it down so please get time to take a break coming up on the outlaw law or we will transition into the 1950s and are continuing to look at the history of legalization of marijuana. Josh, you are journey through time and were into the 19th and at this point lawmakers and really journalist the like, really seem to have little patience or any kind of interest in giving marijuana any kind of nuance distinction between all the other illegal drugs are basically you've got heroin and cocaine, marijuana, everything falls into the same broad category of just dope and it's all considered addicting and frightening and bad cut at the behest of the US in 1961 United Nations convention on narcotic drugs and what to do with this problem when and how to treat it. And so the US is a treaty came out of it. You assigned it helped pushed through and it classified cannabis as a schedule one substance and required all members of the UN to adopt special measures of control to prevent its trafficking. That's right, Josh, the convention on narcotics drugs not to be confused with the convention of narcotics drugs to very different times. What's interesting is that despite the fact that you got this UN convention taken place during this time in the 60s the 60s are really a time when the general public's view on drugs in general is kind of changing and becoming a lot more relaxed you got a lot of college students that are kind of sparking a spike in sparking you see what I did there a spike in marijuana's popularity and the youth.

This is starting to use this drug more frequently which is there's a lot of historical factors.

For that we don't really have time to get into, but by the time of the late 60s rollaround.

It seems there's a lot of people questioning the harshness of marijuana penalties and legislation for what to many people seems to be a harmless activity. But despite that fact, the number of state-level marijuana arrests actually increases tenfold between 1965 in 1970 and a pencil and an enema paper that we should have more ponds just as overall show.

Note we should try to focus more on ponds. We will we will add that to our our research in our repertoire and preparation so that brings us up to 1963 were to the presidency of Richard Nixon and Nixon like he did on most things, takes what I would see is the wrong side of this thing is really aggressive is the law and order candidate was the country's going through 1/68 one of the most tumultuous times in the history of the US so the riots protest assassinations so he comes in his law and order president so he declared a national war against drug abuse.

Yeah. And so it's kind of a comprehensive campaign and in what it involves is we see you know the White House and Nixon date they basically attempt to strong-arm radio broadcasters into no longer playing drug theme music they start recruiting celebrities the kind of the anti-drug spokesman and they start basically mandating that television shows in the and I think they trade out advertising and money for this, but basically mandating that they're going to start including antidrug themes into popular shows and movies of the time. This is really the error where things get kicked up a notch in the drug wars of the powers of law enforcement get drastically expanded between 68 and 72, 73, he said this is where you see the no knock. The late-night search warrants, come into play and you see antidrug agencies kinda become more directly responsive to the White House and what the president wants to see and how enforcement should be yeah that that's that's right. And so there some all-time classic TV shows and movies that are that have that antidrug spin. So we got some good media content out of that and that's it.

That's a discussion for another podcast but so in 1970, Congress passes the comprehensive drug abuse prevention and control act that's that's actually what formally in the United States places marijuana in the most restrictive category of drugs, basically stating that it has no permissible use in medical practice so the thing that's most wild about this to me and our extensive research that we did was the fact that there was actually a commission that was appointed to study marijuana and that commission presented Pres. Nixon a report that basically stated there should be no criminal penalty for marijuana that it's a waste of money. It's a waste of resources and, ultimately, Nixon is actually on tape as rejecting the committee's findings and refusing to acknowledge that report in the public at the time he basically took a hard-line stance and there's actually quotes of his were he he basically told the people in charge of that the drug policy at the time. He said you know you can outtake your recommendations on anything but when it comes that we that's it. Nothing that's it. There's a hard-line stance and that's it.

Despite his stance cut in the 70s we see public opinion really starting to shift to more lenient overall opinions on on marijuana under several national organizations that are pushing for the criminal hints at the criminalization.

You did great that a safety criminalization of at least small amounts of marijuana select possession under announce that kind of thing and the opinion shifted so much a 1977 so Jimmy Carter's.

And though in the White House now and he called for the criminalization in a message to Congress did a fantastic job said again. Josh, Anna, that's right suits are Carter calls for decriminalization criminalization to Congress and and obviously it's unsuccessful that we does not decriminalize at this point, but it but it just an illustration of kind how the public opinion was shifting, but still.

Again, just like we said before, despite that overall shift in public opinion.

There still plenty of people who are very uncomfortable with the growing prevalence of weed and the loosening of attitudes towards an most of these people I'm going to guess of never partaking in marijuana themselves, but there's actually a lot of parent action groups that are formed to advance fears that there are adolescents that are being exposed to this drug. And so there's kind of an increase of this antidrug movement that takes shape with a lot of these parent action groups and these kind of grassroots organizations that that crop up, and we kinda see every a resurgence of those temperance types that we talked about those very fun people that we experienced back in the 1920s. So then we get Ronald Reagan who is a fantastic president except for he had a crack cocaine problem right now him personally, but the country had a crack up the crack cocaine problem and so he came in he was tough on drugs, so there is a lot of antidrug legislation that came through the 80s under Reagan's watch. That's the war on drugs really matter came up in the 80s that's really when the world drugs kicked in the high year in 1986 Reagan call for the implementation of drug testing to ensure schools and workplaces remained drug-free.

So Ronald Reagan really took it to another level that crack cocaine problem really did a number on the the hopes of legal marijuana and like you said there was that I came up after you and I still remember a lot of the remnants of that war on drugs.

You know, it was doubly was Reagan's wife who rolled out the just say no campaign to elementary schools back in 1982. He had the creation of the deer drug abuse resistance education program. I vividly remember the dare program. Lotta great lessons that you learn the dare program coming up in elementary school, so I got aloft topic irregular my Presbyterian Church on 41 S. had not a Raleigh in that church is libraries fantastic church great people but in that library when they ousted their pulling books and we have a book Nancy Reagan wrote a book on on avoiding drugs and that's all I remember about it. I took a picture of it. I don't have that picture with me what I took from that is that you even on a Sunday at church. You're still doing research program.

Your dedication is unmatched and you are at a true scholar and we appreciate you so long story short at this point there's a greatly increased place by the government. And again, the media really to roll out that that same antidrug agenda that really doesn't distinguish between the types of drugs.

So even though their survey showing that during the 1980s. Drug use is on the decline that war on drugs is still a very major campaign issue. By the time that George H. W. Bush is campaigning for presidency in 1988 and really that antidrug media campaign continues well into the 1990s, and it really involves much every medium and met imaginable. So we saw it's it's in TV ads and commercials. Everybody remembers that it was all milk cartons. I think literally every form of media that that was possible at the time there was some form of antidrug message that the beginning of video games that the beginning of videogames exactly here you are correct Joshua, but but over time, studies have ultimately found that these efforts were not very effective, apparently putting the antidrug message at the beginning of the videogames is not that the way to go about deterring the kids from using drugs so regardless, the government is kinda continued over time to periodically pour money and energy in antidrug campaigns, and I don't I don't think were saying that antidrug campaigns are bad. I just think I we would urge a distinction between bath salts, crack cocaine, and in marijuana for all of it, Joseph. I think everything should be legal and available the best success writing from the bath salts so so yeah's controversial statement Josh takes it down to process that. But we move into the present and we move into recent history and kind of the more recent developments and I think we mentioned it briefly, but I think a big part of the shift in attitudes towards marijuana and kind of the distinction between it and other drugs is really been the fact that activist and people who are really touting the benefits of marijuana have really leaned into that medicinal aspect of it and the fact that there are medicinal properties so working to get to the present here and so we know that federal there's federal law against a drug or drug on you having drugs, possession, use, and we got international treaties that the US is is the primary sponsor of and they all have marijuana as a schedule one drug so were pretty clear with where federal law stands now.

So what next organ have to take a look at Joseph we take a look at that that conflict between state law and federal law organ start digging into that room.

Talk about health states of kind of individually pushed back over time against these federal laws and resume talk about the interplay between that statement and federal government piece. You may not may not realize it because of the nature of our discussion me and me and Joseph are always in and try to take a laid-back approach. We talk about this talk about it, really relaxed. We want to give you the wrong image of us that we actually believe there not run a successful law firm called Whitaker and Hamer.

If you need a lawyer you need legal advice, you have some problems with these federal drug laws. You can give us a call. You can also call us at the outlaw lawyer or phone numbers 100-659-1186 2000 659-1186. You can email us questions@theoutlawyour.com. Our website is the outlaw law.

Your.com see you contact us through the website. All of our archived episodes are there and you can listen to that Facebook and Twitter as the outlaw your house of these important dimension Josh. You talked about. We we do take a laid-back approach, but I want to make sure all of our listeners.

When you listen I want you to close your eyes and I want you to imagine both me and Josh in full tuxedos with top hats and monarchies because that's our dressed every day that we come into the pub next to him outlaw lawyer states quite back welcome back to the outlaw your again Joshua and Joseph here talking with you guys. We always encourage our listeners. If you have any questions for us. If you want to reach out and give us your thoughts. We love to hear from you.

Give us a call anytime at 1-800-659-1186 again that's 1-800-659-1186 or you can email us at questions.

That's questions plural@theoutlawyour.com or visit us on our website W WW.V outlaw your.com and again. We are also on Facebook and Twitter as the outlaw your I would remind everybody the email or call us if you leave us a message or call us. Let us know if you want one of our attorneys to reach out to you and for consult, or if you're just leaving us information that we can use for the show. We honestly don't want to get an email from you and and then sometimes will read those on the show if there just for the show just for the sake of conversation. So let us know if you're commenting or if you need some help, but were going. It started so we we kind of painted the federal picture, but the states you have a name they been fighting back pretty yard the states have been fighting back so we have gone through history and we've arrived at the present and the statistics in the present day tell us that about 800,000 Americans are arrested annually for marijuana offenses.

Most of those are just simple possession and very few of those people around wind up in prison. As a result of their first offense, but their encounter with the criminal justice system still has serious consequences. You can have loss of eligibility for federal student financial aid, loss of eligibility for subsidized housing. There's consequences to having that run in with the law and a lot of states have you know and that is very popular in the 80s and 90s. These three strikes you're out laws were, you know and and you get too many mistakes and you get handed a bad penalty on your third felony so you know, while civil possession is not that serious of offense and can really lead to some some serious implications down the road if other things were to happen.

We've always recommended it hard to felony limit that third felony. We can never recommend the commission because like you said the three strikes laws, but it's also important to note, is another kind of indirect consequence of this, this marijuana prohibition is the fact that all of us.

Everyone is a listener as a taxpayer we all contribute billions of dollars a year to the enforcement of anti-marijuana laws and punish those offenders. So there's some real serious implications to marijuana prohibition that that may be less apparent than you think. On the surface, so we know now that possession and distribution of marijuana since at least 1970 has violated national and international law. But there's been various points in history were individual states have made big-time efforts to fight back and I think were really reaching a crescendo right now. Yes, so is the states fight back in 1973 Oregon decriminalized possession of 1 ounce of marijuana and basically just made it $100 fine so decriminalization means that you basically take the teeth out of the existing laws and in that same year, Texas actually made possession of 4 ounces or less, a misdemeanor. So we've seen some states soften those laws I saw in 1975 that the Alaska Supreme Court established that our constitutional right to privacy, which we should talk about one day. That's an interesting conversation and of itself. We have a constitutional right to privacy and that included possession of small amounts of marijuana. I really want to read that case didn't have time to track it down and read it before but I did see Alaska here recently, swung back the other way, but will get there big fan of the Alaskan Supreme Court. We are on the show friends of the show. The Alaskan Supreme Court justice talk about North Carolina. It's where we live so and you know with a lot of the states trending and making their own individual individual statements on the legality of marijuana Las Vegas being one that we just recently visited. Tell me little bit about possession in North Carolina. What is the penalty for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, North Carolina Ari Joe. As it stands now in North Carolina half ounce or less is a misdemeanor punishable with a $200 fine. I half ounce to one and 1/2 ounces. Also, misdemeanor but defined as $1000 and carries a possible prison sentence of 1 to 45 days and then 1 1/2 ounces to 10 pounds, which seems like a big difference substantially 3 to 8 months felony and the fee. The penalty is as $1000 but is at 3 to 8 months. That's that's kind of a big deal in and so that's that's kinda simple possession personal use type marijuana crimes genuinely see a real escalation of the penalties when you get into that intent to distribute PC or basically everything is a felony. At that point. Same thing with the sale or delivery. Your start to talk about major issues. Same thing with the cultivation thereof, you're going to be looking at substantial penalties and felonies all around the board essentially for those crimes.

That's interesting and was looking at the schedules of 10,000 pounds is a felony, and 175 to 222 months and $200,000.05 or 10,000 pounds is a lot. Marijuana is a lot of marijuana man who was ex-football player who was like got caught in the van.

There is like a van that may have had like 10,000 pounds a minute. I don't remember thing is a Dallas cowboy I can but but are severe penalties for sure. Looks like he's facing some severe whoever was a they put them on the Jill apparently so. So we talked about penalties in North Carolina and and I think it's important to talk again about how that initial state-by-state legalization push really came to fruition and it really began with a push for legalization just for medicinal purposes which it it's kind of funny because if you looked at the history as we have that medicinal purposes. In a lot of ways it's kind of a sham. Basically, in order to qualify to purchase medicinal marijuana in areas where it was allowed. Patients would need to visit what's called a pot dock who are basically licensed physicians that specialize in prescribing marijuana and they would have to give you a diagnosis of pre-much any of a dozen extremely broadly defined category so you could have it for chronic pain, gastrointestinal distress, depression, I remember to cataract. You always be here. I needed for my cataract but essentially anything, any ailment you had.

I don't know how much watch The Simpsons, Joseph, but there's a Simpsons where Homer gets a marijuana prescription for cataract skimmer right Cruz picked out his eyes. I cataracts and it's a funny episode it. It sounds great and but again it medicinal purposes was in a lot of ways it was very it's always been difficult to distinguish between, because there are a lot of people that really need medical marijuana for legitimate medicinal purposes and I think there's been recent studies. I think it is fair to say we are, classify weed for the time being. As an alternative medicine in the sense that there is still to this day haven't been a wealth of clinical peer-reviewed studies done to back up these claims of medicinal benefit first for the longest time, there was the push to outright prohibited.

There was a lot of studies being done on so there's it's a kind of a rapidly developing area but but there's a lot of people out there who would swear by the efficacy of marijuana treatments so 1996 California is one of the first first states to really legalize medicinal marijuana in England pretty quickly.

You see a lot of other states followed yet. You see a whole lot of other states followed and and that's what we have for the longest time you got that medicinal legalization until about 20 years later you have Washington you have Colorado who were the first two states that officially allow recreational use with actually it's Colorado that is the first to do so on the very first day of 2014. Since then, a majority of states have legalized medicinal marijuana decriminalized possession of an ounce or less are flat out legalize the entirety. I know we have some DAs here throughout the state DAs: the county level I just say what were not even a prosecute simple possession anymore yeah get the A's a lot of leeway and you can you see that there's a lot of DAs who selectively do that and again is just evidence of that that general gradual movement in the direction of just full legality. Alright, so if you need to get a hold of us here the alloy or the phone number again is 1-800-659-1186 that's 1-800-659-1186. Our email is questions@theoutlier.com. The website is the outlier.com we can go contact us through the website. Listen to archived episodes on Facebook and Twitter. We are the outlaw lawyer. So we've set the stage now comes the conflicts of this was Star Wars the next section would be return of the Jedi coming up next on the outlaw lawyer conflict. The federal government versus the states who will alright so were back at the Constitution.

All these things come back down to the count but are where an article 6, paragraph two of the U.S. Constitution, which is commonly referred to as the supremacy clause. It establishes that the that the federal Constitution and federal law generally take precedence over state laws and even state constitutions prohibit states from interfering with the federal government's exercise on its constitutional powers from assuming any functions that are exclusively entrusted to the federal government does not, however, allow the federal government to review her veto state laws before they take effect. So the supremacy clause is is is, how we've all understood it to work United States have their laws but you're doing everything, under the. The wedding of the federal government. Supremacy clause is a cool name for clause that's first have about it and and the way you describe it. Joshua, it sounds fairly open and shut and federal is federal laws just in a control. Is that correct. Not quite in states where they've made.

Marijuana made cannabis legal, the federal government doesn't interfere suburban different attorney generals that have different opinions on on what to enforce and and why I can't remember can't remember Obama's Atty. Gen., but he basically had a policy to leave everybody alone right if you're obeying your states law, the federal government's not going, not going to interfere, cutting sessions, reverse that has come and gone back the other way were where the federal government can leave you alone. If you're obeying your states law as the handling and and selling marijuana but a lot of banks are comfortable as all these foot levees businesses who make big, big money off marijuana sales are not put their money in the bank because banks are scared. This would violate the Monday lot.

The money laundering federal laws yeah and so what we see is this conflict between state and federal law.

It really locks up a lot of items kind of on the periphery and it does create a lot of conflict and it's it's a tricky tricky area because even like you said in the states in the states where it is legal by state law to do these things. It is federally illegal. At the exact same time and you got a lot of these people who are running businesses and this is their livelihood. This is what they do for a living there.

There, running dispensaries, their growing marijuana there selling marijuana and it's got to be a stressful existence just on the essentially verbal promise of an Atty. Gen. that they're not going to federally prosecute you for something that is illegal, they always even the Atty. Gen. to look the other way. They always say we can 100% prosecute and and we may later but were not gonna do it right now and so give me a warm fuzzy if I'm growing copious amounts of marijuana and selling it to legal customers to remora new story was right about the time Colorado legalizing people to know how it was going to be treated by the bank problem these people. This company was also much marijuana taken so much cash they had to build a warehouse where houses to store their cash they had the security guard on the perimeter warehouse is forecast. I think it's a great problem to have. I think we as the outlaw all your collectively in all of our listeners should all aspire to have warehouses full of cold hard cash. We can just go and throw it in the air lay on it. Spend time with it, but this along our journey that we been on coming back to your original question that Joe asked and so urine you know you got a Taurus twos and we saw some these people yeah torsos in Vegas. They buy as much weed as they can carry out a store for two or three days so everyday in Vegas. She values people dollars extra gummy's and and and marijuana and and what it they'll get thrown away. Dad bath bombs. They take him on the plane would he do it because you taken the plane yet. TSA TSA's federal, one man's three day supply of marijuana is very different than another man's three day supply of marijuana and I think what you see when you go to Vegas and we saw this in our extensive observation of these dispensaries you see a lot of people come in who come in Vegas are looking to have a good time. They may not be super experience with marijuana in general because it's illegal where they come from. So they don't really know what to do or what to get and you know some of these dispensaries that the thing about the dispensary process in our extensive research it. It's really kind of a one-on-one process you enter is showman ID to prove that you are legally able to be in the building and then you walk into a just kind of a room right it's not really like a traditional it's a traditional storefront, but you really can't have this one-on-one attention so you're really being guided by these employees and you could get a great person who's gonna take good care of you and is and he's gonna guide you along and tell you exactly what you need. Or you could potentially get someone who just gonna try to sell you all the 50 bath bombs or whatever it may be, so you do see a lot of these people who are who can't really quantify what they need and that three day. There you have a lot of excess so what you do Josh. It's in our in our research it tenant else on TV couldn't go to TSA's website and gonna tell you this because as I'm imagining this comes up a lot. I could probably know you could be playing flying from Vegas to another state. Words like California, so you may be going between two states where weeds legal and of course federal law says it's not.

They've also said they were not gonna were not in a bug you. So it looks like the consensus from the TC TSA's website is that they're not gonna bother you unless they think you violated state law about your answer to what you do with the extra we was gonna be just strap your belt on Titan you just get the smoke that he stood up and you can even find your plane and that's can be your answer. But yes, like we talked about with these individuals who run these businesses where the TSA's website abundantly clear. Again we did extensive research on this issue. It is abundantly clear that once you cross that threshold in the airport weeds illegal. It's not legal to have. You can't have it if you do have it. There are penalties and basically what the TSA says is we are going to report you to the local authorities and again even though it is legal in that state.

It still federally illegal, so it's still a crime.

You have an issue and it's an issue that none of us want to have to deal with that being said, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that TSA's not looking for these types of things are not looking for your tiny bag of weed or your bag of gummy's. They're looking for bombs from knives for dangerous things in and no one's gonna blow up a plane with Ace SS CBD bath bomb. Well that's how Arata say it's a it's a conflict. It's it it's going to change you know the next Atty. Gen. could decide he's going to take a hard-line stance and and treated differently, but there is conflict and depending on where you're at where you're going, what you have on your account is going to determine what what law applies. That's that's the excitement of a conflict of law situation. Yet, we can advise anybody in any of these states where marijuana is legal but I think what we would say practically speaking, is if you're in a place where weeds legal and you got extra supplies and you want to bring them home with you. You are, there's a very real risk that you are going to be in violation of federal law. And even though it has been said by the TSA that they are not necessarily actively looking for these things if they do find these things, you could definitely have a problem on your hands and so we we would proceed with caution as a guitar and her minor listeners that me and Joseph are licensed North Carolina attorneys only in North Carolina and when we talk to you on the outlaw all your were not here to give anyone any personal advice. Arrearages generally discuss legal topics that are hopefully interesting. If you want to reach out to us at the outlaw your our phone number is 1-800-659-1186 units, 1-800-659-1186. We encourage you to email us if that's easier. You can email the show at questions@theoutlawyour.com. Our website again is the outlaw your.com so you can contact us through the website. All of our archived episodes are there.

Should you be interested in listening and we are on social media, Facebook and Twitter, the outlaw lawyer and again Joe and I are the managing partners of Whitaker and Hamer, a law firm with offices in Garner Raleigh, Clayton, Goldsboro and Fuquay Marina. We have a lot of attorneys and a lot of staff that would be happy to help if you did have a legal issue that you needed to consult with an attorney on you can use that same contact information to contact the law firm. So if you need Whitaker and Hamer again 1-800-659-1186 questions@theoutlawyour.com will get you there as well but Joe, it's always fun to sit down and and this is topical for us as we were just in Vegas we we were just in Vegas we should death like we should do an hour-long show next on gambling another to a popular topic of conversation from being in Vegas but like Josh said reach out to us. We we love to hear from you guys. We love each and every one of you equally and we care about you a lot want to hear your thoughts want to hear questions and if it on a serious note, if you ever do need any kind of assistance with anything we would love to help you out. So we just encourage everybody to reach out to us working out. We we been stockpiling a lot of those listener questions to take at a later date. So working to keep Bill knows that may we just do a whole episode with the question soon that may we do that as we care about the people we want to address what you want us to address and we are we are attorneys were always happy to help you give us coffee can be of any help, but we will talk to you next week is attorney licensed to practice law in North Carolina just appearing on the show maybe licensed North Carolina attorneys discussion of the show is meant to be general in nature and in no way should the discussion be interpreted as legal advice. We would like to be rendered. Once an attorney licensed in the state in which you live at the opportunity to discuss the facts of your case with you. The attorneys appearing on the show are speaking in generalities about the law, North Carolina, and how these laws affect average Carolinian. If you have any questions about the content of the show, contact us directly