South Dakota NORML’s Bob Newland facing five-year felony charge

Bob Newland from South Dakota NORML has been a frequent guest on the Stash, as recently as last month.  I just received this email from him:

As anyone who reads [the Stash] knows, we have a campaign in So. Dak. to put a medical cannabis question on the ballot.
http://www.sdcompassion.org/

I have withdrawn from any connection with the campaign itself. Here’s why:

Longtime marijuana advocate Bob Newland busted for pot possession

By Journal Staff | Monday, April 06, 2009

Bob Newland of Hermosa, a longtime proponent for legalizing marijuana, was charged Monday with felony possession of marijuana and two related misdemeanors after he was stopped for speeding.

A South Dakota Highway Patrolman clocked Newland at 48 mph in a 35 mph zone on March 20, according to 7th Circuit Court documents.

Newland is charged with possession with the intent to distribute more than one ounce but less than one-half pound marijuana, a class five felony punishable by up to five years in prison if he’s convicted. The misdemeanor charges included possession of two ounces of marijuana or less, possession of drug paraphernalia and the speeding violation.

At the moment, I have no further comment on the story itself, nor on the “facts” as they are presented above.

Conviction on the most serious of the charges, “Possession with intent to distribute,” carries the possibility of 5 years and a $10,000 fine.

Here are links to the stories in the Rapid City Journal and in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, So. Dak.’s principal newspapers, and to the most widely read political blogs in So. Dak. You are free to comment online on any of them.

Newland busted story: Rapid City Journal; Sioux Falls Argus Leader

Blog postings: Mt. Blogmore; So. Dak. War College; So. Dak. Watch

Well, I have some further comments.  Let’s see, felony intent for X amount of weed, where 1oz < X < 8oz; misdemeanor possession of X amount of weed where X <= 2oz; that suggests to me that the police claim Bob had more than one ounce but less than two ounces of weed, or what we here in Oregon call “running low”.  The “intent to distribute” often means police claim the weed was in more than one baggie, so therefore you must have meant to keep one and sell one, because nobody would ever keep different strains in different bags, or even ration their weed in separate bags to get through a month, one baggie per week.  Or they found scales and a box of sandwich bags and one bag of weed, which means that you must have meant to sell weed and not just weigh your own weed to be sure your bag’s not getting pinched.  Nobody buys sandwich bags as handy plastic wrappers for unwrapped cheese in the fridge or packing Goldfish crackers in their kids lunch or picking up dog poop or, hell, bagging sandwiches!

I get this email right after an email from Central Pennsylvania, where an ardent reformer looking to start a NORML chapter there informed me his potential board “bailed out” because they were too afraid of “being a target”.

I won’t lie – if you get involved in leading a NORML chapter and you’re doing it right, you will get noticed.  If you’re in a cannabiphobic part of the country, you’ll become a target, because you’re speaking the truth and exposing their lies.  You are the biggest threat to tyranny ever – an educated free person criticizing the government.  It’s not for everybody.  Some people would rather be a dedicated follower, to remain an anonymous supporter, and I understand and respect that.  Some folks have careers and families that would be lost if they “came out”, some folks are growing and dealing to survive and can never “come out”.  I understand that, too.

But for the special few like Bob Newland, who take the risk to make a change, my hat’s off to you.  He’s fighting for medical marijuana use in South Dakota, his work could bring relief to thousands, maybe even Bob himself.  (I do not know if Bob’s use is medical, but if it is, <2 ounces is a legal amount in most medical marijuana states.)  Now the state wants to give him five years (two years over the average sentence in South Dakota!)  This is insane!  I am hoping that this case will get pleaded down to the misdemeanor.  In the meantime, NORMLizers, never let a tragedy happen without learning a lesson: obey the speed limit and carry less than an ounce.