Pubdate: Thu, 23 Apr 2015
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Column: Passing the Joint
Copyright: 2015 The Trentonian
Contact:  http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: Edward Forchion, NJWeedman.com For The Trentonian

SIGN OF THE TIMES

I have a dilemma: Good Troopers

In these times of altercations recorded on cell phone cameras and 
Internet hashtag campaigns against police abuse, I have a different 
dilemma: I can't commend the good officers for fear of getting them 
in trouble. I'm now being treated very well by New Jersey police - 
and I can't really write about it because I don't want to screw them 
up. I want good cops to prosper and weed out (pun intended) the bad ones.

Everyone knows I've been abused in the past simply for publicly 
telling the truth about marijuana. In the past I have complained 
bitterly about troopers, in particular in 1999 it was NJ State 
Trooper Thornton (#5411) who seemed to take my mere "NJWEEDMAN" 
existence as a personal affront to him and his badge. He harassed me 
for weeks, actually forcing me to flee him once. I successfully 
outran his cruiser, evading him at a high rate of speed in my Jaguar. 
I drove directly to the Winslow Township Police Station and ran 
inside to surrender to the local police before he could arrest me. I 
later filed an Internal Affairs complaint against him that was 
probably thrown in the trash moments after I left. And then in 2005 
an unnamed State House trooper kicked me in the crotch and then 
insisted on arresting me because I refused to leave the State House 
building when Trooper Robert Attendees gather at a protest supporting 
marijuana and listen to speakers at the event on Saturday March 21, 2015.

"Rowdy Rob" Rasinsky (#5773) objected to my T-shirt, which said 
"legalize cannabis." I was maced by Gloucester Township Police 
Officer Edward Bryant and unlawfully arrested in Seaside Heights by 
Officer Fraas (#3404) for lawfully passing out "NJWeedman for 
Congress" literature. The list goes on and on, but now I'm 
experiencing something different.

I've complained about police officers plenty of times, and it's no 
secret that I've bitched about the "war on drugs" being blindly 
enforced by these officers.

But now I'm getting breaks from officers and even from the 
unlikeliest of unlikelies: state troopers. None of them are arresting 
me now and while I think this is great, I feel constrained to report 
on these sign-of-the-times encounters out of concern that their 
kindness or respect toward me will cause harm to their jobs and 
careers. I can't write about the details of how an officer recently 
used his discretion to let me go when he smelled marijuana and told 
me so but didn't search me even though at that point probable cause 
existed for a search and arrest. Nor could I provide the particulars 
of how last month I pulled over on I-295 to talk on the phone and 
didn't notice the state police car that pulled in behind me. When I 
opened my glove box to retrieve my documents for the trooper, I had 
close to an ounce sitting in plain sight. I was personally happy I 
didn't get a new charge; the officer acted like he didn't see it, to 
my delight. But I couldn't tell anyone my "good officer" stories. 
They have remained in my head-until now.

On Sunday 4/19, "'Twas the night before 4/20" -

I accepted an invite to come celebrate 4/20 at an event called the 
"Secret Sesh" in Newark. The event has been publicized on Facebook 
for weeks, with the actual location not being revealed until 7 p.m. 
on 4/19. This event was basically a ganja party in a nightclub to 
celebrate the 420 Stoner Day, like it was a New Year's Eve party. The 
music was mostly reggae and the marijuana-themed rap had me really 
thinking 4/20 has already become a holiday, as HBO's BILL Maher is 
now petitioning the government to establish. I've been a marijuana 
activist for close to 20 years, and just this event taking place in 
New Jersey was historically epic to me.

On the way to the event in the smoke-filled WEEDMOBIL, I and my four 
other pothead passengers were actually in the process of hot-boxing 
on the NJ Turnpike when we were pulled over by a New Jersey State 
Trooper at exit 6.

Flashback-style I panicked, and seconds after the trooper turned on 
his lights I dumped my bottle of weed out the window and continued to 
drive for another 1/4 mile, a cloud of smoke emerging as I opened the 
window to do so.

My fellow potheads in the back scrambled to put out spliffs, hide 
pipes, and pull out cameras. Yet when the smiling officer approached 
(yes, he was smiling - I didn't think that was even possible for 
troopers), he never mentioned smelling anything, which was a huge 
departure from the norm. In the past troopers have looked at me and 
claimed they smelled marijuana and used that as probable cause to 
handcuff me and search me and my vehicle.

Now maybe this trooper didn't have the K-9 nose many claim they do or 
times have changed. I got the sneaking suspicion he couldn't believe 
his eyes when he saw a WEEDMOBIL and had to see it for himself. He 
didn't call for backup or demand to search the vehicle. Ultimately I 
was given a warning ticket for a "dim light"; the trooper treated us 
with respect, and we went on our merry way to the "Secret Sesh" with 
a story to tell.

The actual location was kept hush-hush by the organizers, obviously 
to prevent law enforcement from interfering. But just to take that 
chance to promote and host such a marijuana event shows how 
emboldened the potheads of New Jersey have become despite Christie, 
our state politicians, and the current marijuana laws. I hadn't seen 
that much weed at a party since my days in Hollywood. The host, a 
Newark rapper and Brick City legend named Marley Sheen  "Sucio is his 
rap name", handed out high-grade marijuana at midnight, as well as 
THC concentrates and edibles in defiance of Governor Christie's 
brownie ban. Potheads from around the state converged on the "SECRET 
SESH" smoking, dabbing, and dancing. We had a HIGH time.

Now 20 years ago, not only did very few even know about the term 
"420" (it was secret stoner lingo at the time), but to have such a 
party, and to invite me as the celebrity guest, was unthinkable. For 
those who don't know what "sesh" means, it's pothead slang for "smoke 
session." Even with my creative THC-enhanced mind, I couldn't have 
written a better script for the most recent mainstreaming of 
marijuana. CNN has even become the Cannabis News Network!

At the last three protests I've participated in at the State House, 
including this past Monday 4/20, hundreds of NJ potheads have openly 
smoked weed at the very seat of power in this state and no one has 
been arrested by the state police - times have changed.

Now only if I could convince the president of the NJ State Municipal 
Prosecutors Association, Mr. JonHenry Barr, to exercise his 
discretion like these troopers and stop prosecuting the potheads.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom