Pot Has Gone Postal: The Risk of Mailing Marijuana
Posted: Fri 12th Dec 2014 09:07 pm
"http://theleafonline.com/c/politics/201 ... marijuana/
theleafonline.com - Kayla Brown - December 10, 2014
Pot Has Gone Postal: The Risk of Mailing Marijuana
In the mass chaos of the legalization movement, some cannabis users have upgraded the ordinary driving delivery system and instead have taken to sending their product in the mail. In fact, the rate of intercepted packages alone has risen over 20% by the end of 2013 with a whopping 2,622 arrests and indictments. Of this number 68% of these arrests were for marijuana.
An online pictorial article by abc News illustrates the countless ways that marijuana has been packaged, shipped and ultimately seized. Some even went so far as to put the exact amount of weight that was stated on a can and then proceeding to seal the can and make it appear unopened. While there are several ways to attempt to package marijuana, the probability of getting caught has raised dramatically over the last few years, due in large part to the legalization movement.
If a package crosses state lines the crime instantly becomes federal and remember, in the eyes of the federal law, marijuana is still considered to be a Schedule I drug with no medicinal value or use and a high propensity for abuse. Trafficking a Schedule I drug can result in prison time of no more than five years for the first offense under 50 grams, and continues to climb dramatically as the weight increases. It is important to remember that even if you did not mail the package and are only the recipient, your knowledge and participation in the planning of the shipping makes you just as guilty as the person who mailed the package.
A popular question that often comes up in the discussion about mailing marijuana is, “How can a guy who works at UPS and is not a police officer go through my package?” The answer can be found in the fourth amendment of the constitution. When you drop your package off at the Fed Ex or UPS store to be mailed, you are putting the property into the possession of a third party, and the Supreme Court held that once this has been done there no longer exists a reasonable expectation of privacy.
This is not the case with the USPS, however, because as government employees, they are the federal government and they require a warrant to access your package. Both Fed Ex and UPS workers are strongly encouraged to work with law enforcement and report any packages that smell or look like drugs.USPS also encourages others to get involved in the identification of packages containing drugs by offering $50,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and indictment of a drug trafficker according to a story done by FoxsNews6.
In a recent interview with a Colorado Fed Ex employee who wishes to remain anonymous, he explained the normal police procedure when a package is suspected to contain drugs. The employee says that the police come to the shipping location and dress up as Fed Ex or UPS delivery men and set up a sting operation designed to catch the recipient of the package as well as the sender. When this happens, UPS or FED EX will not notify you in advance to let you know there is a problem with the package so as not to alert all potential criminals. This increases the likelihood you, as the recipient, will be able to be charged because if there was the opportunity for notice, then the recipient would know not to pick up the package and therefore could not be charged.
Once a package is seized, one then faces prosecution in both the state in which it was mailed, as well as the state in which it was delivered, based on the discretion of the prosecutor. Additionally, according to the Fed Ex employee, prosecutors have been adding a “bootlegging” charge to large packages intercepted leaving Colorado and Washington specifically. A bootlegging charge requires 12 years in Federal Prison.
Whether it’s to send in a care package, plan ahead for a vacation, or help a friend get some medicine, the risk of mailing marijuana continues to increase everyday along with the penalties a person faces if they are caught. The technology to detect the presence of cannabis changes almost as much as the legislation movement itself. What seemed to be the new way to instant cannabis is now the fast track to federal prison. No package is worth your freedom, think twice before you lick the envelope."
theleafonline.com - Kayla Brown - December 10, 2014
Pot Has Gone Postal: The Risk of Mailing Marijuana
In the mass chaos of the legalization movement, some cannabis users have upgraded the ordinary driving delivery system and instead have taken to sending their product in the mail. In fact, the rate of intercepted packages alone has risen over 20% by the end of 2013 with a whopping 2,622 arrests and indictments. Of this number 68% of these arrests were for marijuana.
An online pictorial article by abc News illustrates the countless ways that marijuana has been packaged, shipped and ultimately seized. Some even went so far as to put the exact amount of weight that was stated on a can and then proceeding to seal the can and make it appear unopened. While there are several ways to attempt to package marijuana, the probability of getting caught has raised dramatically over the last few years, due in large part to the legalization movement.
If a package crosses state lines the crime instantly becomes federal and remember, in the eyes of the federal law, marijuana is still considered to be a Schedule I drug with no medicinal value or use and a high propensity for abuse. Trafficking a Schedule I drug can result in prison time of no more than five years for the first offense under 50 grams, and continues to climb dramatically as the weight increases. It is important to remember that even if you did not mail the package and are only the recipient, your knowledge and participation in the planning of the shipping makes you just as guilty as the person who mailed the package.
A popular question that often comes up in the discussion about mailing marijuana is, “How can a guy who works at UPS and is not a police officer go through my package?” The answer can be found in the fourth amendment of the constitution. When you drop your package off at the Fed Ex or UPS store to be mailed, you are putting the property into the possession of a third party, and the Supreme Court held that once this has been done there no longer exists a reasonable expectation of privacy.
This is not the case with the USPS, however, because as government employees, they are the federal government and they require a warrant to access your package. Both Fed Ex and UPS workers are strongly encouraged to work with law enforcement and report any packages that smell or look like drugs.USPS also encourages others to get involved in the identification of packages containing drugs by offering $50,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and indictment of a drug trafficker according to a story done by FoxsNews6.
In a recent interview with a Colorado Fed Ex employee who wishes to remain anonymous, he explained the normal police procedure when a package is suspected to contain drugs. The employee says that the police come to the shipping location and dress up as Fed Ex or UPS delivery men and set up a sting operation designed to catch the recipient of the package as well as the sender. When this happens, UPS or FED EX will not notify you in advance to let you know there is a problem with the package so as not to alert all potential criminals. This increases the likelihood you, as the recipient, will be able to be charged because if there was the opportunity for notice, then the recipient would know not to pick up the package and therefore could not be charged.
Once a package is seized, one then faces prosecution in both the state in which it was mailed, as well as the state in which it was delivered, based on the discretion of the prosecutor. Additionally, according to the Fed Ex employee, prosecutors have been adding a “bootlegging” charge to large packages intercepted leaving Colorado and Washington specifically. A bootlegging charge requires 12 years in Federal Prison.
Whether it’s to send in a care package, plan ahead for a vacation, or help a friend get some medicine, the risk of mailing marijuana continues to increase everyday along with the penalties a person faces if they are caught. The technology to detect the presence of cannabis changes almost as much as the legislation movement itself. What seemed to be the new way to instant cannabis is now the fast track to federal prison. No package is worth your freedom, think twice before you lick the envelope."