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My Story - How I Got Busted - From the Heart - Constitutional Challenge - My State of Mind

How I Got Busted, by Mark x

My name is Mark x and I officially became a criminal in March 2004. I was sleeping on a Monday morning when I woke up to a powerful banging noise coming from the front door of my 2 bedroom condo (with a nice view). The first thing that came to my mind was - fire department, than cops, but I dismissed this thought in a microsecond. I looked though the peephole and to my complete surprise I saw a guy in a nice suit and 2 uniformed officers of the Toronto finest. I was numb. I opened the door. The guy in the suit said with a military voice “We smell strong ODOUR of marijuana coming from your suite”. I said nothing.

The uniformed male cop on his right (the other was a woman cop standing on his left), moved towards me maybe by a foot. I spontaneously backed away by a foot and I thought “What smell?, I haven’t sparked a morning Joint yet? ” (so called Shake&Bake). I was not sure what is going on and why would cops come in for a smell of pot (even if there was any). I just woke up, I’m not a morning person and now this.

My body and mind gone into an instant freeze combined with a quick and merciless heart attack...help. f@#$#@!! I just turned away slowly from the cops and started walking towards my bed in my living room. I sat on my bed facing away from the cops. I noticed that The uniforms came in behind me and the suite guy walked around me. I was not thinking much since I was scared shitless. I’m scared even now when I write about it, my heart is racing. In many ways, as a grower of pot you prepare yourself mentally for the possibility but the reality is ....you are never prepared.

I know now that I should have called my lawyer immediately after I found out it was cops, but I was scared, really scared. The cop in a nice suite asked me “where is the marijuana”, I pointed in the direction of my bedroom. This is where I become a criminal, officially. The cop probably looked into my two rooms, `1 full of splendid collection of different strains, each labeled meticulously and clones, lots of clones. The second room contained smaller number of plants but many more lights.

The cop came back and my mind seemed to be getting back on track. After all I’m glad I did not have an anxiety attack . Thank God I took my pills....and that’s where it gets complicated. I’m a medical user of pot and on a daily dosage of 40 g. Paxil (ant anxiety drug). I’m also a dedicated supported of my local Cannabis Club (C#$M), where I sell my clones and pot to the medical users. I was involved with the club since its inception, maybe 5 years ago. At the beginning the club had few members and there was no need for anybody to sell clones or pot, since there was plenty of supply at the time. In time, however, some people got busted, some quit growing, for whatever reason, the club was in need of high quality pot and high quality clones.

The reality of the pot market was that there is always lots of so called “Vietnamese” pot which is ok, but no where near the quality medicinal users require. One may say, what about the government pot....... oh, yes the government pot. This pot (I use the term loosely) seems to be nothing but shredded stocks and leafs of plants with few buds in between (where the high and relief comes from).

The first ceremonial opening of the first bag of gov’t weed was televised (I was there). The expectations were low, but the actual product was worst than the worst weed you can pick up at your local high-school. In comparison “Vietnamese” weed is superb, well ... at least it looks like weed. Should I also mention that the Cannabis grown in the Flin Flon is grown is an old mine. I do think we would we grow lettuce in an old mine knowing how polluted the mine is, much less medicinal quality cannabis. Many of the patients send the government “shwagg” back to the government. The whole experience shows how crude the approach to this issue our own health department has.

The cop came back from the room and started talking to me. “Nice set-up”, with a smile. I tool that as deep sarcasm. My mind was somewhat on track and I realized that I have rights, so I reached for my cell phone, wanting to call my lawyer. The male uniform cop put his hand on my hand and said “ Not now, later”.........moment of confusion.......... ha??? “I want to call my lawyer” I said, “later” he replied...... LATER????? I never expected this response, what now, they’re gonna beat me?, they’re gonna let me go?, they’re gonna rob me? I heard so many stories about TO cops that I froze again. My mind froze, my heart stopped.

The uniform cop started hanging very close to me and the other female cop had her hand on the gun all the time...... “Do you have any weapons” asked the suit, I said “NO”, he said “ are you sure”, I said “there is nothing other then kitchen knifes”. The suite started poking around when at the same time the male cop looked at me and smiled “You have no weapons , How do you protect yourself”? ......I was confused since How exactly do you protect yourself from Toronto finest if not with a lawyer. “I don’t have any enemies other than police....I need protection from you it seems” I said. The cop was not amused.

Some time must have passed but I do not remember how long exactly. I remember the suit talking on his cell phone. “He invited us inside” I overheard him say. I realized just now that they have no warrant. How in did they come in than? Invitation could be open to interpretation since they simply came in without me saying or doing anything. I suppose blanc stare from a half asleep male is an invitation. Not to mention that if I said No, they would come in anyways ....... that’s seems to be the word on the streets.

I reached for my phone again, my mind feeling better. To my complete astonishment the cop took my cell phone from right under my nose and put it well beyond my reach. What the fuck?. I thought this shit happens only in movies. You know the cop who knows the “criminal” is guilty (and so does the audience)....but this is not a movie. There is no audience.

The lawyer could at least tell me to come down if not get me out of my trouble. Now I was convinced they’re going to teach me a lesson. I hear constantly about growers getting away in court so cops tend to teach them a lesson by destroying their stuff, roughing them up. Who is the grower going to complain to. The word of the officer in court is LAW, may as well give up now.

This is as much as I can write without getting too anxious...........I’ll try to continue later.