It is well known in Texas that our Law Enforcement Officers are the best in the nation when it comes to that moment in time when the feet need to hit the ground. When you call 911, you can bet that Texas Law Enforcement Officers will respond quickly and deal with the situation at hand decisively.
Once the Law Enforcement Officers deal with the criminal element, they pass them off to the Texas Criminal Justice System. They are well known for their “tough on crime” campaign toting all of the old paradigms left over from the Reagan administration.
This bring us to the story about a Tyler Texas man named Henry Walter Wooten, 54 years old. Henry isn’t the brightest toker in the world. He was caught by law enforcement within 1000 feet of Ebenezer Day Care Center in Tyler with baggies of weed in his pockets toking on a joint. On Thursday, March 4th, Henry received 35 years in a state correctional facility.
Trey Cloud, DPS forensic chemist, testified that the weight of the marijuana seized from Wooten when he was arrested was 4.6 ounces, and the packaging alone weighed 1.06 ounces. He also testified that the drug seized from Wooten was indeed marijuana.
This is, more or less, a warning for those who would openly defy Marijuana Laws in Texas. The Texas Justice system is a series of policies designed to incarcerate people, not rehabilitate or help them in anyway. Henry’s case is unique because his possession limit was on the cusp of being a misdemeanor. In Texas, it is a misdemeanor to possess four ounces or less. One to two ounces is a class B, and three to four is a class A misdemeanor. Henry was found guilty of possessing four ounces to one pound, a felony which could be 2 years in jail and a $10,000 fine. However, since Henry was in a “drug free zone”, Smith County Assistant District Attorney Richard Vance had asked for the jury to give Wooten a sentence of 99 years. Do you think he got off easy?
According to the University of North Texas Rehabilitative Studies professor, James Quinn, Texas is on the cusp of a real grass roots legalization effort.
76% of Texans are pro-Medical Marijuana and 46% are for blanket legalization. However, 80% of those who are in favor of Medical Marijuana believe they stand alone in their thoughts.
According to Ryan Rodriguez, the Executive Director of DFWNorml, (Dallas Fort Worth / North Texas Chapter of NORML),
Once Texans start to understand that most of their neighbors agree with them, they will become emboldened to come out of the Cannabis Closet. We are sitting on a legalization powder keg! Once the powder keg goes off, then we can finally start a real dialog with our policy makers in the Texas House of Representatives.
Legalization in Texas is going to be an uphill battle. Our legislatures meet every two years. This year, 2010, is election year for all of them, including our congressional representatives, and next year the legislature convenes. We intend to submit several bills next year and are working closely with Texas NORML as well as volunteer lawyers and other activists. We could always use more help though!.
NORML activism has increased substantially over the last 18 months, more and more people feel empowered to come out to the meetings and fund raising events mostly because of the encouraging news around the country as more and more states pass legislation for decriminalization. With the possibility of California passing an initiative next year legalizing Marijuana, Texans are starting to open their eyes to the idea of another economic source of income.
The fact is that most of you who are reading this article will probably believe that sentencing a person to prison for 35 years for the possession of a non-toxic, non-addicting, all natural substance that has proven anti-cancer capabilities is not really protecting society from anything dangerous. He might have been stupid choosing his location to medicate, after all, it was Tyler, “Texas”, but nobody should spend a day in a steel cage for medicating, much less their entire life or 35 years. Let’s hope he earns a reprieve in his appeal.
In the meantime, help support your local chapters of NORML. Texas NORML is looking to create a Houston Chapter, so if you live in Houston and want to start a chapter, visit http://texasnorml.org/ and click on the contact link.
If I was lucky enough to be on the jury, I would most likely say not guilty.
If there was some evidence he was selling to children I may say guilty with some exceptions.
If there were 14 year old girls going through their first menstrual cycle, God intended marijuana to be for them. There is nothing worse than the kidney-destroying drugs being pushed through government programs.
The Judge needs to be put in jail for violating this mans rights. Thirty five years for a 1/4 #, this is insain.
We let murders out in five to ten, child molesters, 3 to 5. What kind of free living is this, I think Im moving to Amsterdam or Colorado
What makes you jump to the conclusion that this consumer is a dealer? This could have been his personal medication for the month. Wake up, try it you just my agree with 59% of Americans, it should be re-legalized.
If the guy has served his time for previous convictions, what’s your beef? Nobody deserves time in prison for weed, regardless of what they did previously.
A drug dealer with a prior criminal history. Hope the jack*** dies in prison. Funny how so many people make this long time loser out to be a victim and skip over his previous convictions.
To LeaOne: If you enjoyed Holland you should try Switzerland. The Swiss smoke it openly at bus stops outside restaurants because unlike Holland where it’s merely tolerated by their ” Do No Harm philosophy” the Swiss have total cannabis legalization and they embrace it. I hope one day soon that California Oregon and Wash.State will be among the free!
Liveing in Corpus Christi tx Im not suprse to here of this. In Corpus there are those ( Ilisten to consevti talk radio ) that will howl and dance at the moon on this one.
If this is true that a juge give a man only 3 years for touching a child then norml need to spend there money on showing the juge whee he lives and you must under stand. This juge gave a man 3 years for touching a child must must be shown to the puplic that this juge is a very dangers man and has to be stop.
Ease up on the Texans. Plenty of us smoke it up as well (or vap in my case). Yes, a Texan has a vaporizer, and no, I don’t ride a horse. I will, though, admit a very strong desire to migrate to CA or CO. Don’t judge us based on our government or the gaper skiers that flood ski mountains.
It’s Texas-what else do you expect. Maybe they will eventually succeed in seceding from the US and the rest of the civilized world. Texas sucks ass!
[...] — damning the punishment. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is pissed too, and for good reason. Even Law Enforcement Against Prohibition logged an entry about the [...]
I say string that f’ing asst DA up by his toes naked and torture the fuck out of him…what the fuck is he thinking? 99 years for a quarter pound? I’ll give him a qp right between his moron fucking eyes, he should be shot. His photo should be plastered nation wide so some psycho offs him…I’m smoking right now, come on over and leave in a body bag you ignorant fuck…he’s the same guy that gives a child molester 3 years for touching children…DEATH is waiting for you…
‘I was the only one who got to smoke as the husband’s job does drug testing…’
But there’s no reason why he shouldn’t use cannabis in Amsterdam. In fact, he could use the opportunity as carte blanc to have detectable metabolites in his system for several weeks. If he were to be asked at work he would just say, ‘Of course I sampled the cannabis in Amsterdam. Why on earth wouldn’t I take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to legally do something which I would never otherwise do because of it being illegal elsewhere. How else could I know that the prohibition we enjoy in the land of the free and the home of the brave is such a good thing. I felt it was my patriotic duty as an American to sample the cannabis there to be able to support its prohibition here from a point of view informed by experience.’ In fact, I think he could make a strong case to support the idea that anyone who goes to the Netherlands and leaves without sampling cannabis must be a neurotic, paranoid coward with an unhealthily closed mind and dangerously anal-retentive character.
Ah, the land of the ‘brave’ and the ‘free’…
Amsterdam is indeed leaps and bounds ahead of the U.S. We were lucky enough to go there for one week and the overall feeling was one of being relaxed because we knew we could use cannabis freely without being looked at like a criminal. And one week was not enough as far as we were concerned.
I was the only one who got to smoke as the husband’s job does drug testing, and yes, two weeks after we were back he had to pee in the cup. He sat in the coffee shops with me and the thick smell and smoke in the coffee shops never got into his system, therefore he passed his test.
If no one has listened to Dean Becker over at Drug Truth Network, http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/ , you may want to wade through his work. He’s in Texas and there have been occasion’s where I’ve gotten to talk to him. He’s super nice and committed to ending prohibition.
I am so glad to be living in Amsterdam. Fuck the Texans
This is outrageous, I’m at a loss, how did a Jury do this, there wasnt one toker on the jury? This is where I dont get it, its one thing to get caught its a whole other deal that out of 12 people or is it 10, that not one could just say NO! We have to fight this everywhere and if its a jury duty then you can impact a fellow tokers life, nonviolent toker, but shouldnt we all be doing that? I dont understand, did they stack the jury? Hes in his 50s and 35 years, thats a life sentence for him, besides if he was using medically it could be a matter of weeks he will live without his meds. Boy this steams me, cuz the same crap goes on here in KY, they bust these older consumers and lock them up for long stays in prison, what do they think is going to happen? How is this making anyone safer? I sure hope while they were detaining this man, there wasnt a molester steeling 5 kids right behind them, GEEZ, so scary the 50yr old toker!
This is disgusting for oh so many reasons. It is lack of consistency in laws, prosecution and sentencing that actually perpetrates more disdain for such laws. I was busted in Vega, Texas, while traveling from CA. to NY, with a trunk full of 90 LBS. I was locked up for less than 24 hours, bailed out and was able to leave the state until my court date. The final disposition? 5 years felony probation served in my home state, some fines, probation fees, and they kept my car and pot. WTF are these people thinking?