I get emails here at the Daily Audio Stash that make me angry at my country. This is the story of one young Marine who served valiantly in Iraq, only to have his country toss him aside for his unpardonable sin of cannabis use. Corporal, stories like yours are why I wake up every day fired up and ready to go fight on the front lines of this war on drugs.
I joined the Marine Corps in October, 2004 where I spent my career as an infantry machine gunner. Come January of 2008, I was a Corporal with two combat tours in Iraq under my belt, and only about nine months left on my contract. Things were about to change.
After my second tour, I went back to my hometown on our post-deployment/Christmas leave for a total of 30 well-deserved days. Upon my return, we were required to take a urinalysis, on which I popped positive for THC. Now please keep in mind that, for the entire previous month, I was not working. I was not leading Marines into combat, training them for firefights, or interacting with them at all during this period. What I’m trying to say is that lives were never at stake. I am responsible enough not to do things that interfere with work. That said, I do like to enjoy myself on my off-time.
Anyways, back to the story. I tried to fight the charges since the letter of the law states that I “intentionally ingested an illegal substance”, and there is no way to prove I ingested the weed intentionally. However, it was explained to me that, in a military courtroom, the test results are enough to prove me guilty. That, rather than being innocent until proven guilty, I was walking into the courtroom guilty until I could prove my innocence. So I was court-marshaled, given a military lawyer, and found guilty of two counts of “wrongful use of marijuana”. I was sentenced to 30 days in the brig, reduced to the rank of Private, reduction of 2/3 pay for 2 months, and an Other than Honorable discharge. My lawyer told me that, though harsh, this punishment was better than the one I would have received had I tried to plea my case.
So I went to the brig. I went to drug addiction classes. I dealt with all the crap of being a Private. I was broke. But I was about to get out and get on with life, so that was good! Little did I know, my problems were just starting. Like I said, the sentence I received was rough, but it only affected me until I left the military. That is, except my Other than Honorable discharge. This, while not the worst type of discharge, has prevented me from getting any benefits that other veterans are eligible for. Basically, it’s like I never served.
I spent what little money I had to move back home – the government reimburses travel expenses for military personnel, but I found out I was not eligible for this reimbursement. I lost my G.I. Bill (which I paid for my first year in the military) and cannot receive money for school. Also, given today’s economy and the fact that I was never taught a trade in the military, it has been difficult for me find work since I‘ve been back. But when I filed for unemployment assistance, I was denied because of my discharge. Furthermore, when I tried to enroll at the veterans hospital, I was denied service. The same went for applying for military-related disabilities. And VA representatives won’t let me near them. What’s more, I received a letter from the Marine Corps stating that they had overpaid me and that I owe them $1,700. So here I am, unemployed, living with my parents, and struggling harder because of the fact that I served in the Military.
In conclusion, I think it can be agreed that this is a case where the punishment does not fit the crime. This is but one example of why the reformation of marijuana laws is a necessary and noble cause. Marijuana didn’t ruin my life, marijuana prohibition did.
Two combat tours of duty and our country leaves this man with less than nothing because he smoked cannabis.
I used to play music professionally. One little dive bar I used to play was located in Mountain Home, Idaho*. This town is the home to an air force base, and I used to see airman after airman come to that place on a Friday night and get sloppy drunk, start fistfights, and snort methamphetamine off the toilet lid in the men’s room. Luckily for them, getting drunk was legal, fistfights wouldn’t get you court-martialed, and meth use is undetectable in your system by Monday morning.
I think once you’ve dodged bullets for your country, you should be allowed all the cannabis you can smoke when you return home. Imagine the recruitment! Serve two years, get your cannabis license!
* Mountain Home, Idaho, is the most ironically named town in Idaho, because it is in the middle of the Snake River high-desert plain, about as far away as you can get from a mountain in Idaho. Running a close second in irony is the town of Bliss, a dying farm town also in the middle of the desert. Bliss only gets second because of the off-chance that the christeners of the town were trying to make a statement about ignorance.
Marijuana was never an evil DRUG, it lists more goods than bad! The only side effects are hunger , drowsy ness and stress relief.
Yeah I’m sorry Mark but why don’t you read up on what cannabis was used for, for THOUSANDS of years, before you go spout some nonsense paper by Harvard. LOL. Look California has had legalized medical cannabis since 1996, and do you think if it caused all these problems the state would still be allowing it to be SOLD FOR MEDICAL REASONS???@?! LOL there are drugs sold on the t.v. for depression that can literally kill me, and it even says so on the commerical, yet that okay and fine for me to take. You see, there is a political reason why cannabis was made the devil weed. I use medical cannabis RIGHT NOW for the PTSD I deal with from the Marines, and knowing that 9/11 was a false flag operation. Yeah, put that in your proverbal pipe and smoke it. My former unit was Alpha Company, First Platoon, “Aces Wild” Marine Barracks, Washington D.C.. There is stuff that went on too at my duty station that convinces me too that 9/11 didnt’ happen the way they say. George Washington, one of our founding fathers and original FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, was a user and major grower of cannabis while he was alive. He was also a American General, who helped save our country…….and why can’t I use the same substance as George Washington??????????? Semper Fi.
My stepson is a Marine and is being sent home on the same discharge for the same reason, Now I am retired Army and I agree that they are being a bit over done on the punishment but at the same time when you sign your name you agree to the rules of the military. As for legalizing pot it will never happen and the main reason is money. See what you folks are forgetting is our government is all about the money and as they cannot tax things you may grow in your garden they as well cannot tax you for growing your own pot.
Pot is one of the easiest things to grow, after all its a weed.
Just read this in a Harvard medical journal: Dated March 2010- smoking Marijuana
on a daily basis kills testosterone, opens the door to erectile dysfunction, & Alzheimer’s, memory loss, and helps many forms of cancers to grow at a faster rate (as does cigarettes) And makes depression and bipolar symptoms much worse then if you did not smoke.
@bb-”Perception is reality” is something I’m confident you’ve heard before. People define ‘what’ is and ‘how it’ is without giving any thought to what is really necessary; “Change” (starting with their own perceptions).
“What is necessary to change a person is to change their awareness of themselves.” -Abraham Maslow
What most fail to do is change their perception to a more pleasing one. They expect the circumstances or people to change ‘thinking’ that will remedy ‘it’. They choose to ‘believe’ they ‘can’t’ do anything to ‘change’ it and therefore remain bound by the limitations of their own ‘thinking’.
Either you’ve left out some critical details or you were high while writing your post. lol
Without presuming your son was involved with, let alone having anything to do with, the cannabis at the Marines party, I am unable to connect how, “Someone else bringing ‘bud’ to a party “centered around me” is MY responsibility.”?
Would it be fair for you to be categorize as ‘moron’ because you utilize cannabis for recreational use vs Medicinal? (or even at all?)
It is because of thinking like yours that keeps cannabis where it is. Educate yourself on the founder of DEA formerly known as Bureau of Narcotics: Harry Anslinger
Bottom-line: “WTF?” (Where’s The Fokus?) on you (and your son) doing the correct thing or judging others for not accepting the espousals of others? If you ever feel the need to question a Marines actions, email me before you ‘bash’ another out of your own ignorance.
Kia Kaha & Semper Fidelis
P.S. Questioning a United States Marine’s Honor or Integrity, is like ‘smoking’ at a gas station; it can be done… but don’t be surprised if your ass gets blown up.
My Son is a Marine and just returned home from Afghanistan. During his post deployment leave he made a foolish choice and smoked pot, When he got back to Hawaii he tested positive for THC small amount. He is being kicked out on an OTH. I realize he made a mistake he has nothing else on his record and even though I am not happy that he smoked pot I think it’s discusting for them to toss him out and tell him he served with less then honor. During his deployment many Marines tested positive in Country, they decided not to do anything to them because there were too many to send home. What kind of message is that. Throw someone out and take all their benifits after serving in combat for use on leave but do nothing to those who used while in Afghanistan?????? I love this Country but my views have changed. I am glad he is getting out just wish the Marines didn’t have the need to screw with the rest of his life with the OTH.
My son had a friend, a marine; they got caught with a small amount of weed during a break. The party was actually centered around the marine who was home for his holiday. They got loud and the local fuzz busted them, but they let the marine go. My son, who is a teacher, whose livelihood is just as threatened by the incident, took the wrap for the marine. Now who is HONORABLE? The marine stood by and let my son take the wrap. Mr. Honorable! If he was really a good marine, he would have taken the fall with his best buddy, not run like some pansy.
I have smoked pot for most of my life. I think it is fine. I find it incredibly stupid, actually, that it is still an issue.
The point is that I have lost all respect for anyone in the military, b/c I thought that honor was supposed to be a big deal, apparently not. I will go even further and say that some the anal military supervisors would be alot happier if they indulged.
Just saying.
What a joke fighting for freedom that they will never have! Joke is on the military!
@Scott, LCpl Anaya & “Screwedover”- I am honored to have this opportunity to increase your awareness and appreciate the ‘fuel’ to do so. Using what I learned in the Marine Corps, let see if you can figure out how….
First, “The words we use in thought and speech, create the realities that we see.”.
Just take a look at your use of words: “i wasnt going to be a dick”, so are you telling all who read this, you ARE a “dick”?
“pog”, is a game that was popular in the 1990′s, just Google ‘pog’ and see for yourself. I believe, ‘Pogue’ is the correct spelling you were seeking.
“medically retired from what? your hand get caught in the copier?” lol How is that even possible? Perhaps from YOUR perspective, it ‘could’ happen but then that would really ‘suck’ to live in a world like that, right?
I was medically retired after surviving a skydiving incident in training. (pretty ‘stupid’ for a ‘Pogue’, huh?) Dust-devil popped-up in my flight path 20′ from touch-down, sucked me up to approx 75′ before dissipating, allowing me to drop over 50+ feet.
I’d like to believe we both went through the same training but obviously, ‘how’ we did it was completely different.
I also believe, when you signed the Contract you had the opportunity to choose a MOS Field. Do you think you are ‘better’ because you chose something other than Administration?
You know, monkeys can be trained to fire a rifle & throw grenades too, unfortunately for you, there were/are people like me to ensure you got paid on time, got your awards entered, promotions processed, etc. (No monkeys understand the ‘why’ for pay, awards or promotions.)
Presuming you completed Marine Corps Recruit Training (SD or PI), I am confident your Drill Instructors impaled the following into your Heart & Mind as well as the Honor it is to have the “TITLE: United States Marine”.
If not, perhaps this might explain your cavalier attitude towards Honor, Courage & Commitment and the PROPER USE OF THE WORD “Marine”. (notice the first letter is Capitalized, ‘marine’ is reference to open water.)
As a “Marine” I apologize if I presumed you’d know the difference.
The following you might recognize and will be incorporated in a Chapter of a book I am writing;
Chapter (TBD): Be the change (aka Set the Example)
In the United States Marine Corps there are 11 Leadership Principles
- Know yourself and seek self-improvement.
- Be technically and tactically proficient.
- Develop a sense of responsibility among your subordinates.
- Make sound and timely decisions.
- Set the example.
- Know your Marines and look out for their welfare.
- Keep your Marines informed.
- Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions.
- Ensure assigned tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished.
- Train your Marines as a team.
- Employ your command in accordance with its capabilities.
And 14 Leadership Traits
- Judgment – the ability to weigh facts and possible solutions on which to base sound decisions.
- Justice – giving reward and punishment according to merits of the case in question. The ability to administer a system of rewards and punishments impartially and consistently.
- Dependability – the certainty of proper performance of duty.
- Initiative – taking action in the absence of orders.
- Decisiveness – ability to make decisions promptly and to announce them in clear, forceful manner.
- Tact – the ability to deal with others without creating offense.
- Integrity – uprightness of character and soundness of moral principles; includes the qualities of truthfulness and honesty.
- Enthusiasm – the display of sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of duty.
- Bearing – creating a favorable impression in carriage, appearance and personal conduct at all times.
- Unselfishness – avoidance of providing for one’s own comfort and personal advancement at the expense of others.
- Courage – the mental quality that recognizes fear of danger or criticism, but enables a man to proceed in the face of it with calmness and firmness.
- Knowledge – understanding of a science or an art. the range of one’s information, including professional knowledge and an understanding of your marines.
- Loyalty – the quality of faithfulness to country, the corps, the unit, to one’s seniors, subordinates and peers.
- Endurance – the mental and physical stamina measured by the ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress and hardship.
I, like all Marine Corps Recruits, were taught to apply these Traits & Principles in order to be a ‘successful’ Marine. Really? I mean REALLY?
—-Book is Coming Soon!—-
Bottomline: “WTF?” (Where’s The Focus?) On what you KNOW, “seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions.” or on What you ‘DON’T LIKE’: getting ‘screwedover’ because of a ‘KNOWN Law’, despite the circumstances.
CIP: If someone were to walk up to you and punch you in the face, would it be unreasonable to ‘EXPECT’ you to take any other action than reciprocating? If not, then why all the ‘whining’ & ‘crying’ let alone ‘name calling’? I’ve seen 6 year-olds more mature than that.
“Once a Marine, Always a Marine” applies to those who uphold and honor the traditions, regardless of personal beliefs. That’s why I was HONORABLY RETIRED vs OTH or BCD.
“Life is what you make ‘IT’, the chaLLEnge for most is accepting ‘IT’.” -Kevin A. Phillips
Dude, you never have served have you? Do you think any of us WANTED TO BE DISCHARGED LIKE THIS??????????? DO YOU THINK WE ACTUALLY THOUGHT POT SMOKING WAS OKAY??? Hey buddy, guess what? DRUGS ARE RAMPANT IN THE ARMED FORCES. It was only after I got busted that I started hearing peoples drug stories, most of them involved drugs that were out of your system just in a few days……..yeah, a lot of those stories. General George Washington grew and used cannabis, his primary crop after 1798 was cannabis. Yet he was our first president, and first commanding general. Standards you say? Okay, sure, then why don’t they BAN ALCOHOL??????? Alcohol is the real killer here. Cannabis is a natural herb that god created………..man created alcohol, YOU TELL ME WHICH ONE IS BETTER? I personally didn’t start using cannabis until I felt like I was at the end of my rope, and I had no where to turn too. Oh yeah, and living with a mentally disturbed marine who worked out all the time and kept a loaded pistol in his wall locker ( which I didn’t find out about later), and thought I was a communist because I was kinda liberial ( I am from Santa Cruz CA). Yeah, and when I went to my squad leader to complain, that racist good ol’ boy from Georgia told me to “suck it up marine. When I lived in the Barracks, I would get in fist fights everyday afterwork with my roommate. Suck it up”. Well………..you get the picture. I wasn’t about to fist fight some crazy samoan with a pistol…….especially one that was as strong as him………but I did suck it up, and lived in fear of my life for the summer of 01…….yea. What was the last straw was that god damned 9/11 fake ass terror attack, aka Cheney’s coup de tat. The last straw for me was doing guard duty unarmed, at a post that was ALWAYS armed and guarded by a security force marines before 9/11……..so after the worse attack on the Capitol, they downgrade our security and put me out there with some other marines who were also unarmed………yeah, that sucked. I really felt like a disposable hero at that point………the point is, I found some honor in the Corps, but our government? NO HONOR. There are a lot of marines who went to war after 8th and I Marine Barracks Washington D.C. and 9/11, and died. There were other marines who died doing over a hundred on the freeway…………. I consider those marines PTSD deaths. I think the Corps needs to elevate their standards even more……….To many young men, barely out of youth, have died because of the insanity of the last decade…………. Semper Fi
hey guys i was surfing the internet when i found this http://www.legalbud.com its great stuff its not pot its an herb that native americans used to smoke check it out its great stuff u will not fail a drug test
K i have a question. Im not in the military but my husband is a marine. He failed one drug test so they gave him 60 days restriction. Then he got results back from another drug test. failed again. So then they put him in the brig (29 day sentence). Hes sposed to get out 5 days early for some reason or another. He just called me saying that they got results back from ANOTHER test. so altogether he fuckin failed 3 drug tests maybe more at the rate hes going. They must have tested him like 5 times in a 2 week span to get something like this. I know he cant appeal or anything because his THC levels kept going up. (detox drinks & shit ton of AZO’s didnt help at all). So my question is will they give him another brig sentence when hes finished with this one? He is supposed to get other than honorable discharge so is anything going to change or will they just let him get out. He is hiring a lawyer but I just wanna know what to expect and if I can tell him anything that can help him. They have treated him like complete shit so far so whats gonna happen to him?
i havent served but i plan to join the marines in the next few months if i can pass that goddamn asvab i am curious…is there any way to smoke pot while on a tour?
all that fucking bullshit about getting dishonorable discharge man thats not right these men put their life on the line for this country and thats the thanks they get……listen guys i wana thank you for your service and i think that if a man wants to smoke sum bud after doing a tour than he should have that option….i havent been in the military but i wana be a devil dog but that may not be an option anymore i got caught smoking a joint in the locker room at school i didnt get arrested but i got charged with two counts of posession and got put in a day treatment school i got caught about two weeks before i turned 18 and if by some miricale i get in the marines im going to wait till i get out and then get stoned out of my fucking head but while im in ill just get drunk….it feels good to be able to get on a website and share my story with people who have been there and done that maybe one day guys it will b leagelized but until then im going to try not to fuck my life up anymore than i already have im looking forward too hearing from u guys until then good luck in this peice of shit world
Yes, I agree, fuck Kevin, pencil pushing pansy ass. We were dodging enemy fire in combat while he was getting paper cuts at some office building.
And he forgot to mention that illegal immigrants get all of the benefits that he does not. Thanks to the politicians that sold the American people out and continue to rob the country while taking away all of our liberties.