Sounds like the cop did the right thing, legally speaking

Sucks he got away but good for the cop for following the rules.

that criminal had steel cajones...

Wait a minute...a cop doing the right thing? What the hell is going on here?!

"01-17-02 09:40:57 AM MojoMonkey
that criminal had steel cajones..."

and tapioca for brains. When carrying 700 lbs of weed, always obey the speed limit.

700 pounds of pot? 700 POUNDS OF POT????
that police station is going to be buzzed for awhile.
yes, cops do it. in my town, if you get caught with an ounce
of pot, in court it turns into a quarter or a half.
what are you going to do? say "judge, i had a whole ounce, not a half"

Needs HERO tag.

Any lawyers wanna weigh in on this...asuming you aren't attending a college in the mid-Atlantic states?

i am sparking a bowl as trubute to anyone with the balls to have 700 pounds of pot in one vehicle

Yet another reason to have a FarkFest in St.Louis. Great cops and a drug bust on every highway. I see them all the time. Great theatre.

Agreed, Mayo..It amazes me to see major busts like this start off with something so inoculous as going 5 mile over the limit or some goofy lane-change infraction.

Man, I'd be bolted to my chair with a porta-potty hole carved straight through to the pavement

Mr. RV loaded with pot driver. For all you do, this buds for you.

Street theatre rocks, Bigpeeler.

All the more reason to carry a camcorder WHEREVER you go

maximum penalty of 30 years in prison

you can 30 years for that?!?! How long to you stay in prison for raping someone?

Funny, I don't recognize the guy's name from the NFL rosters.

If it was some nice shiat that would suck, but at least he isn't behind bars. If your going to do it, get the real dank, not riff raff buds!

I hate how these articles never provide the street value of the drugs they stumble onto. Aren't they supposed to brag about who got the most expensive bust?

FatTulip: yet more proof that the drug war is a bunch of malarkey. This guy in my hometown got five years for murder--he only served six months jail time. Meanwhile, a friend of mine was busted with a pound of bud and got fifteen years. He's currently serving that time. What a wonderful world.

Blackbloc - Its really difficult to understand that kind of punishment. Terrifying. I am sorry for your friend.

It's great that the reporter mentions the drug dog's name; his family will be very proud of him.

I don't understand why a cop would let someone,whom they pulled over for speeding, abandon their vehicle and wander off in a cab. I would think that behavior like that would be considered suspicious.

And how big is 700lbs of pot? Seems like that would take up quite a bit of room.

another stash snagged during dry season....doh! i'm sure there will be some unhappy folks in chi-town...
and then there's always Great Britain relaxing it's laws while America makes it illegal to even sell hemp food & nutritional items...burt what else is new?

CheekyMonkey: 700 lb. sounds suspicious to me, too. A lot of times the cops will bring in a great deal of "reserve weed" from previous busts to make the current bust look better. Happens where I live all the time. And the cops got caught doing it once, too (god only knows how that happened, though). I'm really glad this guy got away. I hope he gets to spend the rest of his days in freedom and happiness.

mmmmmmm 700lbs - i'm going to go on a limb here and guess it was schwag.

It's okay though...the man was holding it for a friend...

So let me run through this briefly....If I refuse a consent to search, even though I act nervous and the drug dog is barking its ass off & crapping at every wheel well, I can hop a cab & hoof it to the airport before a warrant is issued?

WHOTTA COUNTRY!

Skidnuts - Exactly so! If the reason you were stopped wasn't enough to get you arrested right then and there, they HAVE to let you go if you want to. Psychic impulses are not enough to go on.

Least, this is the case in most places. Here, in AZ, all an officer needs is to THINK you have drugs/guns/whatever in your car in order to pull you over and search it. Thank god this state isn't as neanderthal about drug possession as it used to be, a lot more money would be getting pissed away providing free room and board to ex-stoners.

This poor cop must not have had any backup. He can't search the vehicle if he's on his own. As far as leaving in a cab, follow me here. Guy says, I won't consent to a search, get a warrant, but I need to get to the airport, so tow the damn car when you're done. The cop has to let him go, because right now there's nothing to arrest him for.

PS NATE NEWTON NEED LESSONS FROM THIS GUY!!!

Hell, back in the bad old days - at least here in Texas - you could pull down life for holding a dime bag (for you younguns, that was when you could get a rightous ounce baggie for $10. "No stems, no seeds that you don't need...").

I got busted in rural Oklahoma (Pauls Valley) back about '77 or so when the county mounty decided that I was weaving over the center line in my Blazer with Texas plates (UT had whupped up on OU the previous fall). I got pulled over and made the mistake of getting out of my truck - serious bad mistake! I was wearing a flat brimmed "Mississippi Riverboat Gambler" hat and a pair of soft leather "Apache shiatkicker" boots. The cop looked in my truck, spotted an open can of beer (legal at the time in Texas, but not in Oklahoma), told me to step back - and then proceeded to search the glove compartment (where I had a .22 mag derringer - again, legal in Texas if you're traveling outside of your local county/or on an overnight trip), and my overnight bag, where he found less than a quarter ounce of grass. It goes without saying that the search was without my permission (he didn't bother to ask).

I was going through a divorce at the time, but fortunatly it was a 'friendly' divorce, so when I got my phone call, I called up my ex and asked her to get in contact with the Oklahoma branch of NORML who sent a lawyer about a week later. He worked out a plea bargain in which I would pay a certain "morida" to the welfare fund, the concealed weapon charge would be dropped, as would the DUI. I don't remember what the final fine for the possession rap was, but I did have enough in the bank to pay it.

Bottom line - if you're carrying, drive carefully and don't get out of your car/truck/RV without a lawyer!

700lbs? I make that 320ish kilos. Street price of 1 kg is £3500 if you don't import/know the importer (clearly, we are talking SKUNK only - no weed rubbish - weed is £900 a kilo). On that quantity, you should expect to pay no more than £2500 a kilo. Real street cost (in the UK anyways - dunno about US prices) would be roughly £800,000.

.... and for the police maths....

1/8th costs £30 if you're a policeman (or an idiot...it should be only £20 for prime green!).

3.5 grams in an 1/8th. 320 kilos * 3.5 = 91500 1/8ths (ish).

91500 1/8ths = 2.75(ish) million.

... but then again,

Damn, I'm going to have to remember that.

Perp: "Hey officer can I go now?"
Cop: "No, son, we're still going over your car."
Perp: "Wait, what am I being arrested for."
Cop: "You're not under arrest."
Perp: "So I can go..."
Cop: (scratches head)
Perp: "If I'm not under arrest, and you don't have any reason to arrest me, then I can't be held, right? So I am going to leave right now!"

Cop: "Um. Well, ok."

Dumb.

Good advice, Coyote Jack.

Morrigan,

Given that he was coming from Arizona, I'd say you're right. A-1 100% Mexican schwag. Making the street value only like $210,000. 30 years... damn. If you're going to risk 30 years, do it for kind!

peace,

mh

Monkey, you are getting skrewed. my best friend makes his 8ths 4.0, straight up proper, and its decent bud, too.

What old days are you talking about Coyote? Although only 27, from what I have always heard when doing "research" into drug counterculture, a dime bag just means a $10 bag. If you could get a z for $10, damn man, I would invent a time machine.

Well Lightswitch, if he uses a 1 gram bag, then no wonder it's 4 g's

also, street value would mean price of an 1/8 or 1/4 "on the street", meaning what, $10-15 for 1/8 of schwag. They tend to err on the conservative side on top of that. So say $15 ... 8x16x700x$15 and they'd call it around $1,344,000 b/c it makes the "war on drugs" look better.

it's true Oberon, i can remember when 'lids' (about an ounce) were $25, and people who were experienced buyers from the early 70's thought that was a huge rip off. (in reality, it probably is for a farkin' plant).

POT KILLS

...too bad that farking plant makes GTA3 that much funnier ;)

No no no, Pimpler....SPEED kills

Didn't you ever watch WKRP? ;)

lightswitch - an 1/8th weighs 3.5 grams, although I don't doubt that your buddy gives a nice draw.

... anyways, if you sell by the kilo, you never have to buy the 1/8ths!

I prefer hash for selling tho - it's a smaller size, and they come in nice 9oz units, smell less and are generally less risky. Not that I'd smoke any dirty dirty hash!

Wait, this is the dumb. Hasn't this officer ever seen an episode of Cops?

Procedure:

Step one: Stop car for "speeding."

Step two: Check driver's ID.

Step three: Ask if it's OK to look in the trunk.

Step four: Find 700 lbs. of smoke.

Step five: Arrest everyone in the car.

Rinse. Repeat.

What held true 20 years ago still holds today; the single greatest danger to marijuana users is the fact you might get arrested

Britain's decriminalizing...what the hell?!?

Anyone else thinking Leon Lett?

Guys... These are police estimates:

1lb = $300,000.00
1ounce = $5,000.00
dime bag = $500.00
joint - $50.00

They didn't estimate what 700lbs is worth because no human can comprehend a number that large. And these numbers are accurate because cops know everything about pot.

rape a little kid, 2 years with probation. Grow some plants, lock them up for half their life.

welcome to the war on drugs. how come we don't have a war on sexual predators?

Coyote;
Even given the fact that it was 1977, you should have been beaten severely and then arrested for your outfit alone.

I would like to salute the man that walked away from 700lbs of pot. That is something that's never easy to do in any situation.

I also find the pricing and quantity debate to be fairly humorous.

POT KILLS...

those painful math skills I learned in high school.

"I remember when a dime bag cost a dime."