Man sentenced to 3 years in prison for trafficking marijuana
Kansas.com, KS
Associated Press
05/09/06
TOPEKA, Kan. - A man who authorities say hurriedly pulled off a highway to avoid a phony "drug check" was sentenced Monday to three years in federal prison for trafficking marijuana.
Zeferino Olivas Ortega, 31, of Odessa, Texas, was pulling a horse trailer along Interstate 35 in Lyon County in October when he saw a sign warning of a "drug check lane," officials said.
Ortega quickly changed lanes to avoid the drug check, but a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper pulled him over for failing to signal.
"The drug check lane was a ruse," U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren said in a news release Tuesday. "Mr. Ortega's reaction, however, was to violate traffic laws in his haste to avoid any contact with law enforcement."
Highway Patrol troopers, alerted by a drug dog called to the scene, discovered 1,000 pounds of marijuana in a hidden compartment in the horse trailer, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Ortega pleaded guilty in February to one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
Tricky, tricky.
This illustrates the basic principle that the government can lie to you but it is illegal for you to lie to them.
Just ask Martha Stewart.
The concept of the victimless crime has been degraded in current drug policy debate. The White House ONDCP wants to frame the debate in terms of the potential harm caused by various substances. They spend tens of Billions of Dollars a year maximizing the harm associated with the consumption of these substances.
But what a victimless crime really means is that you haven't done anything at all to hurt anyone, you have simply disobeyed a government rule.
When the government involves itself with enforcing victimless crimes it fundamentally changes the nature of police work. It creates an environment in which police work relies on surveillance, snitches, undercover sting operations, SWAT teams in our homes and other Un-American Nonsense.
Associated Press
05/09/06
TOPEKA, Kan. - A man who authorities say hurriedly pulled off a highway to avoid a phony "drug check" was sentenced Monday to three years in federal prison for trafficking marijuana.
Zeferino Olivas Ortega, 31, of Odessa, Texas, was pulling a horse trailer along Interstate 35 in Lyon County in October when he saw a sign warning of a "drug check lane," officials said.
Ortega quickly changed lanes to avoid the drug check, but a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper pulled him over for failing to signal.
"The drug check lane was a ruse," U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren said in a news release Tuesday. "Mr. Ortega's reaction, however, was to violate traffic laws in his haste to avoid any contact with law enforcement."
Highway Patrol troopers, alerted by a drug dog called to the scene, discovered 1,000 pounds of marijuana in a hidden compartment in the horse trailer, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Ortega pleaded guilty in February to one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
Tricky, tricky.
This illustrates the basic principle that the government can lie to you but it is illegal for you to lie to them.
Just ask Martha Stewart.
The concept of the victimless crime has been degraded in current drug policy debate. The White House ONDCP wants to frame the debate in terms of the potential harm caused by various substances. They spend tens of Billions of Dollars a year maximizing the harm associated with the consumption of these substances.
But what a victimless crime really means is that you haven't done anything at all to hurt anyone, you have simply disobeyed a government rule.
When the government involves itself with enforcing victimless crimes it fundamentally changes the nature of police work. It creates an environment in which police work relies on surveillance, snitches, undercover sting operations, SWAT teams in our homes and other Un-American Nonsense.
posted by Terry at
5:06 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home