FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Getting high around a campfire in a national park, especially in Wyoming, is likelier to get you prosecuted under a new Justice Department policy cracking down on minor marijuana offenses on federal land.
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Back around 1983 or so, one of my friends that worked in the steel mill at the ammo plant decided to spend the day fishing a stream right on the boundary of Yosemite National Park with his dog. He'd parked on a wide spot of a dirt road just inside the park. Him and Rover or whatever his dog's name was had a great day and as he's loading his dog and fly rod into his truck, a Park Ranger pulls up. He's cool, he doesn't fuck with Scotty one bit, just sitting there shooting the shit about different flies that work well that time of the year, so Scotty whips out a joint and fires it up right in front of the incredulous Ranger, then offers him a toke.
Bam, Scotty suddenly finds himself under arrest for drug possession on Federal property. Not only that but Ranger Bob adds insult to injury and ticketed him for having his dog unrestrained in the Park when the dog jumped out of the back of the truck as Scotty was being searched.
We fucked with Scotty hard. He protested that the Ranger seemed cool but we shut that shit down real quick by asking if he would ever offer to smoke a joint with a CHP that was cool and let him out of a traffic stop with just a warning?
It ended up costing him several thousand dollars in lawyer's fees because there was a very real danger of a jail sentence, lost wages for the days he had to go to court in Yosemite (yes, the park has a jail and courthouse) and the thousand dollar fine he eventually ended up with.
The federal prohibition on marijuana also bites quite a few people when purchasing a firearm, because so many states have legalized marijuana for supposed medical purposes.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, an NPS Ranger friend told me that Yosemite has its own morgue as well.
ReplyDeleteScott was a maroon!
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't real bright, was he?
DeleteWhen I was a ski patroller we had a permit on federal land and there was a dickhead forest service guy who would fuck with people on the access road. Pot's legal here, but this dude was a Fed. Any vehicle with a visible snowboard was an automatic bust.
ReplyDeletetominor
It's way past time to legalize weed, grow your own not that dispensary tax scam bullshit
ReplyDeleteJD
People in this world that show up unannounced are there to help themselves, not you. It is best to keep your mouth shut and your habits tucked away. Don't be Scotty.
ReplyDeleteProof that the devil’s lettuce clouds good sound judgement I’d say. Hey officer, want a hit? Dumbass.
ReplyDeleteIn Scotty's defense, he claimed he didn't know Park Rangers had arrest powers inside the Park. We still fucked with him about it, though.
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