On my way home from a vacation in Northern Michigan, fourth of July weekend.
The car I was riding in was stopped for having a tinted license plate cover. After all of the typical questions you get during a traffic stop, the officer asked if we had anything in the vehicle he "should be worried about". Of course I wasn't going to tell him I had 1/4 oz of weed on me, along with paraphernalia. We did let him know that there was a bottle of Absolut in the back seat, which was half full. Unbeknownst to us; in the great state of Michigan, all alcohol that has had the manufacturing seal broken must be in the trunk. Ours obviously wasn't so as soon as the officer heard that he asked if he could take a look inside. Complying, we stepped out and were shocked to see four more police cars had joined the original. And within five minutes not only was the car being thoroughly searched, they began emptying our bags. I immediately began freaking out, and in the most frightened act of honestly I let one of the officers searching my bag, that he'd find "a bit of marijuana" as I so eloquently put it. I was returned with a stern "step behind the line sir" as I watched them not only spill all of my neatly packed clothes onto the concrete, but find my entire stash. A different officer approached me and began questioning me: have I ever been arrested before, what I intended to do with the pot, etc. I was honest in explaining it was all mine, and that I wasn't a seller, but just someone who wanted to enjoy the holiday weekend. Once the questioning stopped he told me to stay put and he began speaking with the other officers, and what seemed to be the Sheriff. After what seemed liked years, yet another different officer directed me to grab all of the stuff and follow him. He then stood facing the trees on the side of the road and said to me "wouldn't be great if you just dropped all of this here and we could forget about it?" Without any hesitation, I sadly had to toss all of my bud on the side of highway. He told me to get back into the vehicle and wait for further instructions. The walk back to the car was filled with an overbearing feeling of relief that made me want to do literal backflips. I got back in and shortly after the initial officer that pulled us over walked up to the window. Paraphrasing, we were let off with a warning, and were assured they "get it" that we wanted to have a fun holiday weekend, but to be more careful next time..
When the dust settled, a lot of time was wasted, my dignity had been rattled, and I dodged a potential 1 year sentence and a $2,000 fine.