Harrassed for smoking marijuana alternative

[Guitarmonster]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey

The other day me and some friends were on one of my friends front porch. We were smoking a herbal blend which mostly used as a legal alternative to smoking marijuana. We were cuffed, searched, and our pipe, which has never been used for anything illegal, as well as about $100 worth of the herbal blend were taken by the police. The cuffs were taken off after their field test kit revealed nothing. After that the police said they would need to take the pipe and the blend and that we would not get it back. I have contacted them over and over again and have been told to forget about it and i'm not getting it back. How can they do this, we were not breaking any laws, nor were we bothering anyone. What gives them the right to just take property from us without good cause. There have been no charges, even though the officer stated that we may get something in the mail. This is an example of abuse of power. What can we do about this, the total lost so far is about $135.00

 

[InsaneJane]

Send the town a bill for not returnning your legal property.

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey

The other day me and some friends were on one of my friends front porch. We were smoking a herbal blend which mostly used as a legal alternative to smoking marijuana. We were cuffed, searched, and our pipe, which has never been used for anything illegal, as well as about $100 worth of the herbal blend were taken by the police. The cuffs were taken off after their field test kit revealed nothing. After that the police said they would need to take the pipe and the blend and that we would not get it back. I have contacted them over and over again and have been told to forget about it and i'm not getting it back. How can they do this, we were not breaking any laws, nor were we bothering anyone. What gives them the right to just take property from us without good cause. There have been no charges, even though the officer stated that we may get something in the mail. This is an example of abuse of power. What can we do about this, the total lost so far is about $135.00

**A: so are you saying the herbal blend contains no cannabis or similar? What law are you referencing that allows you to smoke herbal blend?

 

[Guitarmonster]

There is not a law that i'm referencing that allows anyone to smoke an herbal blend. My point is, there is no law that prohibits it. This product is imported from a reputable company, is inspected and cleared by customs (I have actually gotten packages that were opened by customs, and re-sealed with tape saying "inspected by U.S. Customs".

This product is basically on the same line as flavored tobacco, except it is not tobacco so it does not require additional licensing to sell. And no, this product does not contain any cannibus or anything similiar. There are many companies, including "High times" that sell this, what they call "legal bud". I honestly think that this one cop was really pissed off because he thought he had something, and after a while he realized that he called backup and wasted a lot of time for nothing, so he took the stuff to teach us a lesson.

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for law enforcement. I follow the law, i'm a good citizen, I even donate money to the local FOP. However I do feel that more that often, officers abuse their power and use intimidation to do whatever they want, and this needs to come to a stop in this country. I guess I will end up sending them a bill, good luck on collecting it right? In the end I will probably have spent more money to "win", and i'm sure the cops know this, they probably figure "he's not going to waste money to pursue this", and based on that, they can unofficially do whatever they want.

 

[outonbail]

If the city denies your claim, you can sue them in small claims court. Make sure you have all receipts for the items the police confiscated, bring all witnesses and collect whatever information is available which describes what this "herbal blend" consists of and it's purpose.

You will have to prove that the property was legal to own, that you were the legal owner and that it was being used for the purpose it was intended to be used by the company selling it.
I assume everyone smoking this blend was old enough to purchase and ingest smoking materials. If not, you may want to rethink your position, count your losses and move on.

Keep in mind that there are many products that are legal to purchase, own and use as long as it is in accordance with the manufacturers directions for use and used as it was intended. Spray paint is one example. Perfectly legal for an adult to buy, possess and use to refinish his mailbox. But when used for graffiti or huffing, the police have every right to confiscate it.

I knew someone who had a high intensity spotlight which was confiscated by the police for pointing it back at the police helicopter one night.

So, if you were using this legal herb blend to "bait" the police into harassing you, by smoking it in public view and making sure the police saw you hitting the bong like you were smoking marijuana, (which would be my guess) you shouldn't expect much sympathy from a judge. Wasting an officers time by pretending to be doing something illegal can probably fall into several categories. Like disturbing the peace or interfering with normal police business or something along these lines. This is also something the police may choose to charge you with if you pursue a small claims suit for the value of this blend they confiscated.

Just thought you should be aware of this going in,,,,

But if nothing else, you will get some first hand experience of how small claims court works and probably learn a thing or two about fighting city hall as well,,,,,,.

 

[Guitarmonster]

The packaging does not have any instructions for use, it simply says "exotic herbal blend" on the packaging. The ingredients consist of different herbs like blue lotus, marshmallow, etc. The last time I checked I don't believe smoking out of a pipe is illegal, since there are many who do, and you can even purchase pipes in tobacco shops. We didn't do anything to attract any attention to ourselves, no excessive noise, we did not use any behavior that would indicate we were doing anything illegal. Me or my friends would never do anything to bait the police for no reason. We were not using a water pipe (the legal version of a bong), we were using a small, wooden pipe. I'm a little confused about how I would need to prove what we were doing was legal, I was under the impression that the burden of proof was on the state, that the state is the one who has to prove we were doing something illegal. For instance, if I am charged with a crime and I excercise my right to remain silent, I can be found innocent if the prosecution can't convince the court beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am guilty, is that correct? It seems that the written laws state one thing, but the "unwritten law" states another. I will not be able to get all the ingredients, simply because these are trade secrets of the company. Just like I wouldn't be able to walk into a Kentucky Fried Chicken and demand their secret recipe.

We are all of age (25-29), so we are allowed to consume smoking products in our state.

Yeah and the guy with the spotlight got what he deserved, that is an example of trying to provoke law enforcement and was a very bad decision on his part.

 

[outonbail]

I'm a little confused about how I would need to prove what we were doing was legal, I was under the impression that the burden of proof was on the state, that the state is the one who has to prove we were doing something illegal. For instance, if I am charged with a crime and I excercise my right to remain silent, I can be found innocent if the prosecution can't convince the court beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am guilty, is that correct?

You are talking about a criminal case and I was referring to the small claims case which is a civil case. The burden of proof will be on you to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that you were legally smoking a legal product on your property in a non reckless manner and a police officer came and took your property from you without any just cause for doing so.

BTW, you never did say what brought the officer to your location in the first place. If you were not trying to draw any attention to yourselves, how did they come upon your activities? Were they just there selling tickets to the ball?

 

[Guitarmonster]

The officer said he saw it while driving by. The first thing he said upon approaching us was "you guys sure have a lot of gall to be smoking marijuana right out in the open", he then told us to step off the porch and sit at the bottom of the steps, he then called his dispatcher on the radio while he searched my front porch. He grabbed the bags from the table, as well as the pipe. I told him up front that we were not smoking marijuana, he told me to shut my mouth. When the other officers arrived I told them the same thing, they all looked at each other laughing, as if I was lying. We were then told that they would do a field test and if it turned up positive, we would be arrested for possession, as well as paraphernalia. When he ran the tests, and I guess the liquid in the tube didn't turn the color he wanted, he looked frustrated and tried a few more times, all yielding nothing. All of our id's were taken and our information was called over the radio and written down. They then told us we were free to go, for now, and that we all may get something in the mail. I then said "can I have my stuff back please", he looked at me with a highly confused look on his face and said "no", and they all left. I was assuming that since their field test revealed nothing, that they took the stuff back to the station for some further analysis. It's been over a month now, none of us have been charged with anything. Every time I go to the police station they are really rude to me and give me a real hard time, they start off with the whole "I don't even know what you are talking about". Finally the last time I went up there, an officer "I think he might be one of the officers at the initial scene" pulled me aside and said "stop coming up here to ask for your stuff, it's gone, you will just have to get over it".

As far as I am concerned I have been strong armed, and manipulated by intimidation. I could have been a hard ass and refused to cooperate with the police, and used my right to remain silent. However I respect the job they do so as soon as we saw the officer approaching us I told my friends "we are not doing anything wrong, I want everyone to be as cooperative as possible". I was under the impression that citizens who cooperate fully with law enforcement get the same in return. I have gotten nothing but grief and at this point i feel if I go to the station one more time demanding my stuff that their going to charge me with harassment or something.