quote:

Explosion In Popularity Of Hemp Products Leaves Texas Unable To Bust Marijuana Users
Nigel Bogel-Burroughs, The (UK) Independent, 7/20/2019

Texas politicians thought they were clear: the bill they overwhelmingly passed allowing the growth and sale of hemp had nothing to do with legalising cannabis. "This is no slippery slope towards marijuana," Charles Perry, a Republican state senator who sponsored the bill, said in May, according to The Dallas Morning News. But since Greg Abbot signed the measure into law in June, county prosecutors around Texas have been dropping some marijuana possession charges and declining to file new ones, saying they do not have the time or the laboratory equipment needed to distinguish between legal hemp and illegal marijuana.

Collectively, the prosecutors' jurisdictions cover more than 9 million people - about a third of Texas' population - including in Houston, Austin and San Antonio. (Emphasis added - see comments below for the reason why - IC)

The accidental leniency represents one of the unintended consequences states may face as they race to cash in on the popularity of products made with or from hemp. Interest has surged in oils, gummies and other goods infused with CBD, or cannabidiol, which is processed from cannabis plants but does not produce a psychoactive effect. The police and prosecutors in Florida are facing the same problem as their Texas colleagues after the Sunshine State legalised hemp in July. "This is not just Texas," said Peter Stout, president of the Houston Forensic Science Centre (sic, which runs tests for the Houston Police Department and other agencies. "Everybody is struggling with this."

In Texas, prosecutors have already dropped scores of possession cases, and they're not just throwing out misdemeanours. The Travis County district attorney, Margaret Moore, announced this month that she was dismissing 32 felony possession and delivery of marijuana cases because of the law.

Ms (again, sic) Abbot and other state officials, including the attorney general, pushed back on Thursday, saying prosecutors should not be dropping cases because of the new legislation, known as H.B. 1325. "Marijuana has not been decriminalised in Texas, and these actions demonstrate a misunderstanding of how H.B. 1325 works," the officials, all Republicans, wrote in a letter to prosecutors. Kim Ogg, the Harris County district attorney and a Democrat, shot back by saying that laboratory confirmation "has long been required" to prove someone's guilt.

Because the new law distinguishes between hemp and illicit marijuana, prosecutors say labs would now be required to determine the concentration of THC in the seized substance. Mr. Stout said he has been able to identify only two labs in the country that can make the fine distinction necessary and that are accredited in Texas. Both of them are private. Prosecutors would need to pay the labs to run the tests - sometimes hundreds of dollars for each sample - and to testify about the results at trial. Sending all of the state's suspected marijuana to a small number of labs would likely overwhelm them, prosecutors have said, and would result in severe backlogs.

Still, many prosecutors agree with the governor and are continuing to charge and prosecute marijuana cases as usual. The district attorney in El Paso, Jaime Esparza, a Democrat, said this month that the law "will not have an effect on the prosecution of marijuana cases in El Paso" and a spokeswoman confirmed that he had not thrown out any cases because of the law.

The sudden dismissals in other districts have been a welcome surprise for those who had been facing charges. Brandon Ball, a lawyer, said one of his clients in Fort Bend County had been distraught about the possession charge she faced until it was unexpectedly dismissed. She kept thanking him, but it wasn't her lawyer who beat the case. "I was trying to explain, it wasn't me, it was this law," Mr. Ball said, referring to the hemp legislation. Mr. Ball, now an assistant public defender in Harris County, explained that test results are vital for prosecutors trying to prove that someone had an illegal substance. "The law is constantly changing on what makes something illegal, based on its chemical makeup," Mr. Ball said. "It's important that if someone is charged with something, the test matches what they're charged with."

There's a note at the bottom of the article indicating that it was reprinted from the New York Times. All Britishisms in spelling are from the original. Some sentences compressed into paragraphs for purposes of space. Original text at http://www.yahoo.com/news/expl...eaves-193031542.html

Unfortunately there's no obvious easy solution, since the two (equally easy) solutions are to ban hemp in Texas and to legalize marijuana in Texas.

The more interesting question for me lies in the selectivity of places that are declining to prosecute marijuana cases. Dallas County/Dallas, Travis County/Austin and Harris County/Houston prosecutors have all stated that they wouldn't bother to prosecute marijuana cases any more for quantities below a certain amount, claiming that the resources aren't available or could be more efficiently used to prosecute other crimes. Under Governor Abbot, municipalities in Texas are more and more likely to face preemptive state laws when they try to do things like create sanctuary zones or legalize camping in public spaces by the homeless, so local decisions to not prosecute marijuana offenses might very well be overturned by state legislation.

On the other hand, a lot of jurisdictions in Texas that will continue to prosecute marijuana offenses are relatively small, and don't have a whole lot of resources in terms of courts, prosecutors, or budgets for prosecutions. That, in turn, is counterbalanced by two factors. One, those jurisdictions don't have that many people and may therefore not have that many marijuana offenses to prosecute. Two, the good ol' boy system still rules in small-town Texas, so a lot of potential cases may never get prosecuted for reasons that have nothing to do with access to laboratory testing and qualified testimony by lab techs.

It's no secret that I support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes, including in Texas. That being said, this bothers the hell out of me because any solution to the problem is bound to be sloppy enough to fuel the passions surrounding the politics of the decision to legalize marijuana or not.

I believe NC had made hemp illegal to coast this issue.

This will go well.

^^^

quote:

Unfortunately there's no obvious easy solution, since the two (equally easy) solutions are to ban hemp in Texas and to legalize marijuana in Texas.

I see one pretty easy solution, that'll free up all sorts of government resources and a bunch of states have already done it. And there's; now get this no blood running in the streets.

BUT BEWARE THE DEVILS LETTUCE! or whatever. People like weed they're going to smoke it regardless might as well not make any more felons for committing the crime of having a plant.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
This will go well.

C'mon, everyone will use the stuff reasonably and responsibly. Plus it will free up jobs requiring security clearances, firearms usage, and the like.

Sadly, I think the genie is out of the bottle. Based on what I’ve seen here in Commiefornia, I’m not sure that is a good thing. Of course, Commiefornia has legalized pretty much everything: Pot, theft, being an illegal alien, etc. Time will tell how this pot/hemp issue settles out in Texas.

It is science problem because what is illegal is defined by percentage of THC. Labs don't have the ability to test for the quantity of THC in a sample. So prosecutors can't prove an essential element of the crime, namely that it exceeds the statutory percentage.

Pot needles will be everywhere.

Can’t someone think of the children!

Too many goddamned laws. Got a thread about being caught with bird feathers, another one where a new grip turns your gun into a felony, and here's a classic pot discussion with a twist, how high can your rope get you before it's dope instead?

And best of all, we got grown men and women arguing for this shit. We need a plague and some saber-toothed cats running around the countryside to refocus us on what's really important, and to hopefully thin out the numbers of these statist pricks who can't hard anymore without somehow butting into the lives of all the rest of us.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
It is science problem because what is illegal is defined by percentage of THC.

Sure, but in my opinion the problem is how the issue is being gamed. The jurisdictions claiming that it's too hard to prosecute are the very ones where prosecutors have been disinclined to prosecute pot offenses in the first place, and Abbot's willingness to cut some slack for nonpsychoactive CBD products is being thrown back in his face.

The medical pot people just barely got an OK to expand the list of patients with eligible conditions, and just barely got a statutory increase in allowable THC from 0.3% to 0.5%. Now prosecutors in large urban counties are being portrayed as using lack of lab access as a convenient excuse to ignore laws simply because they're politically unpopular in their jurisdictions.

This is a problem that can, at least potentially, be resolved or bypassed with a bit of thought and calm discussion. Turning it into a spitefest won't do anyone a bit of good. Hell, if everyone's flinging poo for the sheer fun of it, how can either a prosecutor or a defendant count on getting a fair hearing in court? Lawmaking may be an inherently political beast, but at some point the laws have to be at least somewhat depoliticized for the sake of the processes we need to engage in to make and enforce those laws.

The hemp used for commercial products doesn't even look like the variety used for committing herbicide.

We've been told by our agency's attorneys that we can't act on marijuana on smell or look alone.

This is bolstered by an opinion from the UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Government.

We have to have a plus one. Smell/visual plus some other indicator that it's marijuana rather than hemp.

I can't begin to tell you how many very very very bad people I've put in jail because of the smell of weed. Half the time, or better, we didn't even charge then with the weed we found. But we did charge them with the stolen guns, heroin, etc. that we found as a result of the search.

It was a tool...a damn good one. Oh well.

I like to vape hemp flower, no THC. Don’t like pot as I don’t like THC and its effects.

Hemp flower looks like weed to me, so much so, I dont take it out of the house to avoid getting busted for pot. I also take 50 mg of cbd oil daily.

Cbd has allowed me to stop taking xanax and ambien. Told the doc and he is happy to scratch me off the prescriptions.

The only thing that reproduces faster than a weed is bureaucracy.

The entire premise behind this is false. Several democrat DA's have been working to skirt the law on weed for a couple of years. Now they are using this.

this letter from the AG to the DA's explains the law pretty well

https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/...ss/Letter_to_DAs.pdf

Keep in mind that these DA's know this, they just wanted to dismiss a bunch of weed cases and blame the legislature.

Also, the THC percentage argument is ridiculous. the labs can test to a higher percentage (which is still illegal) and all of the weed you seize makes this standard. saying it is over 1% still meets the elements, except for some inert stems. If a defendant want to claim Hemp, he needs to produce a hemp transportation certificate, and if he doesnt have one, he commits a different offense.

Don't believe what you read in the news, it is generaly inaccurate

Agree the bigger issue is DA's abusing the law to end up with a politically driven result.

Pro Pot or not, each of us should be vehemently against DA's interpreting the law or skirting their jobs based on personal or political leaning regardless of the subject

If these same DA's were being overzealous, interpreting gun laws against gun owners in a manner in which the law wasn't written there isn't a person here that wouldn't be chewing the DA's ass off..

But it's pot, and illegal so bending the law is ok...

If this new test kit works as advertised, it should take care of this issue.

New Police Drug Test Aims to Tell Pot From CBD

With the rise in use of CBD to treat ailments from anxiety to arthritis, police across the U.S. now have a problem: Commonly used drug field tests can't tell the difference between legal hemp products and marijuana.

But the News4 I-Team has learned a new test developed by forensic chemists in Switzerland could help keep American CBD users out of legal trouble.

Area police have yet to deploy the new test, which was just made available in the U.S. in June. But the I-Team, the first news outlet in the U.S. to obtain and try out the Swiss kits, has learned Virginia is now evaluating the test to see whether it’s a suitable replacement for the current drug field kits used by law enforcement in the Commonwealth.

Virginia’s chief forensic scientist told the I-Team that her department, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration, is testing samples “so that we can understand the limitations of that test.”

Linda Jackson has warned the state's prosecutors and law enforcement about the old tests' limitations, but as of now, they are still the only kits her agency has approved for use by law enforcement.

"Those regulations would need to be altered to include the use of another test," Jackson told the I-Team in a May interview, adding that it could happen an upcoming meeting of the state’s oversight board.

Changing Laws

Common Police Field Tests Can’t Distinguish Between CBD, Pot
The test, which police in Zurich developed after Swiss law changed in recent years to allow hemp with up to 1% THC, only recently became available in the U.S. And it comes as law enforcement across the country grapples with evolving CBD laws.

After federal statute changed with the 2018 Farm Bill to allow for hemp-derived CBD products with up to 0.3% of THC – the chemical that can produce a high – states including Virginia, Florida and Ohio followed suit.

In March, Virginia changed the definition of marijuana to mirror federal law. Now, Virginia allows for “finished” hemp-derived products, such as CBD, as long as they contain no more than 0.3 percent THC. Marijuana remains illegal.
But as the I-Team first reported in May, some CBD users have been arrested because popular police field tests are designed to detect cannabinoids, which include both hemp and marijuana.

The I-Team has interviewed multiple people who said they were detained or arrested after their CBD products tested positive for marijuana in the disposable police field test.

They include Michael, a Virginia man who asked News4 not to use his last name, who was detained last year during a police raid of a Washington, D.C., party where others were selling marijuana. While D.C. legalized marijuana possession in small amounts, it’s illegal to sell it.

Va. Warns Authorities About Tests Misidentifying CBD as Pot
"I was shocked,” Michael told News4. “I literally was like, is this really happening right now?"

He said police seized his inventory but he was able to avoid arrest after showing the officer the lab results detailing the product’s CBD content.

The I-Team found another case — this time out of Virginia — in which a store owner was arrested and charged with felony distribution of marijuana in March.

Kyle Traugh showed the I-team laboratory results that show that the product in question, which looks and smells similar to marijuana, contains less than 0.3 percent THC. But when Fredericksburg police sent the material to a lab, it came back positive for the presence of THC. It’s unclear just how much THC is in the product, however, because Virginia state labs do not have the capability of measuring the exact amount of THC in most CBD or marijuana products.

Coming to America

Michael Bovens, chief scientist at the Zurich Forensic Science Institute, told the I-Team the Swiss police initially intended to develop the new test just for their own use. After validating its accuracy with hundreds of lab tests, he said, police there began using the test last September.

CBD Laws Need to Be Fixed to Protect the Innocent: Lawmaker
"We are happy if the test is used successfully in other countries as well, of course," Bovens added.

The Swiss kits are similar in appearance to the older tests used throughout the U.S. But the chemicals in the Swiss test turn a purplish-pink when detecting products with a higher concentration of CBD and blue if the product is mostly marijuana.

John Waldheim, the sole U.S. distributor of the Swiss tests, signed on to distribute the product just as Florida law was about to change. He said he’s already received as many as 25,000 orders from Florida police agencies, outpacing the speed at which the Swiss manufacturer can provide them. It’s unclear, however, whether any Florida agency is already using the new Swiss tests in the field.
Waldheim said he’s hoping to launch a manufacturing arm in the U.S.

"With the way laws are changing in each state, this could blow up probably overnight," Waldheim told the I-Team.

Constance Stanley, the chief of police in Lauderhill, Florida, is among those who have ordered the kits for her department.

Thousands in DC Area Seek Treatment for Marijuana Dependency
"We wanted to get ahead of the game," Stanley said. "We definitely don't want to put anyone who's innocent in jail."

Stanley also serves as president of the Broward County Police Chief's Association, which already decided to adopt the new tests, predicting demand around the country will be high.

Earlier this year, the Broward County Sheriff's Office issued a legal bulletin that stated: "All current THC test kits must be disposed of and replaced with the new test kits."

I-Team Finds Most Marijuana Raid Charges Are Dropped
Chris Martinez, a scientist whom Waldheim asked to validate the Swiss tests in his Florida cannabis lab, said he’s still evaluating the kits to see how they fare in various conditions, such as in extreme hot or cold temperatures.

"If this does prove to be true ... this is definitely going to help a lot of people stay out of jail,” Martinez said.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/...m-CBD-512891941.html

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
This will go well.

Just look at how nice the greater Seattle area has become! Definitely not filled with tweakers and dopers openly using and turning the place into a favela.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
We've been told by our agency's attorneys that we can't act on marijuana on smell or look alone.

This is bolstered by an opinion from the UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Government.

We have to have a plus one. Smell/visual plus some other indicator that it's marijuana rather than hemp.

I can't begin to tell you how many very very very bad people I've put in jail because of the smell of weed. Half the time, or better, we didn't even charge then with the weed we found. But we did charge them with the stolen guns, heroin, etc. that we found as a result of the search.

It was a tool...a damn good one. Oh well.

The smell of weed would still seem to give you probable cause. It could still be weed and not hemp.