Texas Might Have Accidentally Decriminalized Marijuana

Kids! I used to be a pothead in Ohio, and I was caught a couple times in the early 1990s. It's decriminalized for up to 100 grams, which is 3.5 ounces. That's quite a lot more than people tend to carry around with them for personal use. The law has been the same since the 1970s. When I got caught with a quarter ounce in 1993, it was a $100 fine. A "minor misdemeanor". However, it also comes with a six month driver's license suspension. The first time it happened, I pled not guilty, got assigned a public defender, who immediately was able to plea it down to a disorderly conduct charge. The same fine ($100) but no license suspension.

The second time I got caught, it was about the same amount and the same deal, about a year later. Only this time, I was in college, and didn't have a car anyway, so I said fuck it, and pled no contest so I didn't have to come back to court. $100 fine, no license for six months but that wasn't a big deal for me at the time.

There were no handcuffs involved nor taking me down to the station. Just a ticket with a summons to appear in court. Neither instance shows up on any background checks, and I've even tried to find it in the county records, and it's nowhere. My car insurance was never affected, and in fact, it was never even reported to them that my license was suspended.

In effect, yes, it is decriminalized in Ohio with a caveat about the license thing. I guess you can argue 100 grams is "small", but unless you just bought a fuckton of weed and got caught on your way home, or you had a search warrant served on your home (in which case, there's probably something bigger going on with you than just personal use marijuana), then personal use has been pretty much decriminalized in Ohio for 40-odd years.

The baggy is not paraphernalia, because I was caught twice with weed in a baggy and that was never mentioned to me. Nor is a joint wrapper considered paraphernalia, either. A pipe is, though, because one of the two times I got caught, I also got caught with weed in the pipe. But the cop didn't write me a ticket for that. In his words, "Most people usually run, but you just handed it to me, so I'm not going to write you a ticket for the paraphernalia." The lesson being: smoke joints in public in Ohio, and leave the pipe at home. Or do what I did: move to a legal state.

But if it does happen to you in Ohio, and by some extreme chance the cop is being an asshole and tries to claim a baggie or a joint wrapper is "paraphernalia", plead not guilty, you'll be assigned a public defender who will almost certainly get the paraphernalia charge thrown out, unless this about your fifth time in court for the same charges.

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