Tip For Avoiding Trouble From Law Enforcement While Transporting Marijuana
As a non-medical pot smoker, I have had to be vary careful to avoid the long arm of the law. When it comes to driving with marijuana I have a pretty good track record, other then one time when I was caught in a bad position. Whenever I;m driving with weed, I follow a few simple rules. These rules are nothing crazy or insane and they will not bail you out of every spot but they have worked for me so maybe they will help you.
P.S. check your state’s laws to stay current with your specific state’s legal limits. Know what you are facing in the worst case scenario.
1.Keep your paperwork legit. Be sure to have insurance, driver’s license and current registration handy and know where it is. Trying to find that stuff when you’re stoned isn’t fun, which leads my to number 2…
2.Don’t put your pot in the same spot as your insurance and registration. This one I learned the hard way when I got stopped one night. I reached in the glove box to pull out my paperwork and there was my bag of weed right on top. Luckily, the officer didn’t see it but I’m not taking that chance again.
3.Don’t smoke pot in while driving in city limits. This rule isn’t necessarily set in stone but, unless it can’t wait, try and save your smoking for the freeways and highways(or home). Also, don’t hotbox your car, as this is just asking for trouble.
4.Don’t leave your vehicle littered with pipes and roaches. It gets to a point that you have so much stuff in your car that could get you in trouble, even a busy cop with bad eyesight would have to bust you. Always keep weed and paraphernalia out of plain view.
5.Don’t consent to a search unless you want trouble. A police officer will search high and low for anything that could get you in trouble. I had a friend once who thought that they had nothing in the car consent to a search. The police ended up finding an empty bag with a few small flakes of weed in it and my friend wound up getting arrested.
6.When possible, put your stash in the trunk. I have a jacket with zipper pockets that I use to carry my weed. I just throw the jacket in the trunk and you can’t smell it in the cabin.
7.Be sure your car is in good working order. This includes taillights, license plate lights, headlight and turn signals. Basically anything and everything that could get you pulled over. I spent a week in jail for a broken license plate light. Shit happens.
8.Control the odor. If you can’t kinda smell weed chances are a cop will pick it up right away. I keep a bottle of body spray or cologne with me at all times just to be safe.
9.Don’t be nervous. Cops are trained to watch for non-verbal clues and being shaky and nervous is an obvious sign that something could be up. Just relax, think about something else and (mostly)forget you even have it.
10.Finally, don’t be stupid. Don’t drive around town on a Friday night with more weed than is needed or anything unnecessarily reckless. The more chances you take, the more likely you are going to find yourself in some sort of trouble.
Also, these rules apply when you are a passenger too, as you can find yourself in just as much trouble as the driver, another lesson I learned the hard way.
Bottom line, a police officer can do whatever they want and make your life really, really difficult. You may have you case thrown out later but you will still be out your time and weed, so it still sucks.
I know that there are more, but this is just a basic rundown so feel free to add anything I didn’t include. Below is maybe one of the best videos ever made. Well worth the time to check it out.