Last week I had reported on sports columnist David Mayo’s rejection of a plea deal in his marijuana cultivation case. The prosecutor offered to drop the felony charge of growing 20-200 plants, which could’ve resulted in a seven-year prison sentence, if Mayo would plead guilty to a felony charge of less than 20 plants and face a possible four-year prison sentence. It looks like he went ahead and copped a plea, but managed to stay out of prison.
(WWMT) GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Sentencing took place Tuesday for a suspended Grand Rapids Press sports columnist who admitted to growing marijuana in his home.
David Mayo was sentenced to three years probation, a $5,000 fine, 240 hours of community service and random drug testing. He had faced up to four years in prison.
Mayo had earlier pleaded guilty to delivery or manufacture of marijuana, more serious charges were dropped in exchange for the plea.
Mayo is out five grand, thirty days of volunteerism, and has to pee in a cup for three years. This is following losing his job as a well-known local sports columnist and being forced to take a server job at the Sizzler. All because he grew marijuana in his home for himself and his wife.
It becomes so frustrating, reporting these kinds of stories day in, day out. I always have the big six-year-old’s question staring back at me: “Why?” Not “why did this happen?”, because that’s really more of a “how” question, as in “how did we come to have a prohibition on the safest social drug?” or “how did the police justify arresting someone for an herb?” or “how did the court justify locking up a gardener?”
My “Why?” question goes deeper, to “Why do we go to such extremes to make sure people don’t burn and inhale cannabis plants in their home?” Why do we think we can control people’s socially-harmless private behavior, and why do we think that we should?
David Mayo’s obviously not dealing weed to kids in high schools. He’s not going to move up to freebasing coke or shooting heroin. He’s not going to be committing crimes to feed a habit. He’s obviously a productive member of society and prior to his bust, nobody had any idea what he was doing at home in private.
I try to explain this frustration to people I know outside the movement. They are stuck in the “It’s against the law, so just say no” mindset. Government says pot is illegal, so just don’t do pot. If you do pot, you deserve to go to jail because you knew it was illegal. Pot has to be illegal, because it’s the gateway drug to the bad stuff. Then they’ll collect more cash from the others at the party so they can make a run to the liquor store for rum and tequila.
First I’ll tell them that if you have to scare people about pot by bringing up heroin, you must be admitting that pot isn’t so bad. Then I’ll ask them why they think pot is a gateway and the standard answer is “because everybody who gets hooked on meth or heroin starts with marijuana first!” That’s when I ask them if they masturbate.
That usually makes them blink. ”Because you know,” I’ll continue, “every child molester and serial rapist starts out with masturbation first!” I then explain the Top Ten Reasons Marijuana is like Masturbation:
- It’s something lots of people do for pleasure and relaxation, but few admit to in public;
- It’s perfectly natural and done in moderation not psychologically or physically harmful;
- Religious people usually frown on it;
- It’s generally not something you should do in public;
- It’s not harming society in the least;
- It’s more fun with a partner or a group, but not for everyone;
- You can get paranoid feelings doing it, but usually because you’re worried about getting caught;
- There are many intriguing varieties of devices to aid in the activity;
- Thinking laws could ever possibly eliminate it is ridiculous;
- Punishing people for it is tragic and has nasty unintended consequences.
Sure, there are differences, such as how to interpret the “puff, puff, pass” rule, for example. But if I can get an average beer drinkin’ Idahoan thinking about how he’d react if the legislature created mandatory minimum prison sentences for masturbation and police were given infrared cameras and a mandate to catch wankers, I’ve turned him toward the path of enlightenment. You may not like my choice to use cannabis in private, but you damn sure need to respect my privacy!
