This Little Piggy Went Snitch: Plants Seized While Cannabis Stocks Soar
The Carbon County Sheriff's Office posted a photo on Facebook of the seized plants with the German Shepherd K9, who was helping find the pig.
A recent search for a domesticated pig led police officers to a batch of cannabis plants in Carbon County. Per a Facebook post recently, “Carbon County Sheriff’s Deputies were assisting the Carbon County Animal Control in locating and securing a domesticated pig that had been running through several properties in the county. While following the stray pig Deputies located multiple marijuana plants. A search warrant was requested by the Sheriff’s Office through the Seventh District Court. The search warrant was granted and served. The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office then entered the property and collected the marijuana plants to be booked into evidence. The Sheriff’s Office has made contact with the party that cultivated the marijuana plants and the investigation is ongoing. Sheriff Jeff Wood would like to remind residents that even though medical marijuana is already legal in Utah, patients still don’t have the right to grow their own plants. Likewise, recreational cannabis is still illegal in any form in the state.”
The nearest Utah dispensary for Carbon County residents is in Payson, over three hours round trip -- if one has adequate transportation. Recreational cannabis users are not the ones being punished; Carbon and surrounding County patients are those who suffer.
But the economic impact of continuing the ongoing assault on patients, caregivers, and -- let’s face it, any American adult -- is big business. Hefty fines are passed out as people are stopped in droves as Utahns and other Americans cross in and out of Nevada or Colorado borders. Product/medicine is seized, like in Carbon County, and the “perpetrator(s)” in question must appear before a judge, more than likely need to hire a defense attorney, pay fines, fees, and court costs, if they get a plea deal -- none of which includes the wasted time and overall stress of such an unbearably dumb situation.
We all know that cannabis is a plant. It is one of the oldest known plants tracing back to at least the 3rd Century BCE. While cultivation and breeding have been able to create varieties for a multitude of issues, particularly for those whose own cannabinoid system is deficient in that area, it is still ultimately a plant. Cannabis has many benefits for those who need it for various ailments and issues and for those who are just looking to relax -- and beginning next year, Nevada is poised to open consumption lounges.
For 20 years, Americans have seen their inherent and constitutional rights not-so-slowly erode. With the passing of the US Patriot Act in October 2001, 45-days post-9/11, restrictions were loosened increasing ever-expanding governmental surveillance.
The illegality of something that can be homegrown as easily (or as difficult) as tomatoes is immoral. The relief that millions of people worldwide experience is shamefully just out of reach for a country bent on self-destruction as it refuses to discard 20th Century societal morés while corporations make bank. Because ultimately, that is all most of these laws are; keeping those without in check, while ensuring the ever-increasing profitability of those with.
Click here for a list of state specific cannabis laws.