Police don’t just get the facts wrong about the dangers of marijuana and the impact of commonsense reforms like decriminalization. Frequently, they’re wrong about marijuana itself, making wild claims about the street value of the latest bust or exaggerating plant yields to make small growers sound like major traffickers. If you think you’ve heard it all, here’s a cop from Massachusetts who says an ounce equals 200-300 joints:

According to Lt. Danny Maguire of the Weston Police Department, "The biggest challenge we have is to convince people that, just because the law has changed, marijuana has not become 'legal,' and that the problem of drug addiction is still just as severe as always. There is also the danger that people will think it’s actually OK, under the new law, to smoke a joint or two and get behind the wheel of a car."
…
One ounce of marijuana is the equivalent of 200 to 300 joints, according to Maguire.

This is just shockingly crazy and wrong. Researchers have estimated the average size of a joint between 0.4 and 0.9 grams, which would equal 30-70 joints per ounce. If you roll more than 70 joints from an ounce, they’ll be empty toothpick-sized joints with more paper than pot. They won’t even work and no matter who you are, I’m sure you know someone who can assure that this is true.

Claiming that you can roll up to 300 joints from an ounce is a total lie. It’s hilarious to anyone who’s ever smoked or even seen a joint. It’s like claiming a bag of skittles will serve 300 people, when there’s actually only 70 Skittles in the bag and most people don’t find an individual Skittle very satisfying anyhow.

So what the hell is this guy talking about? He’s angry that voters in Massachusetts decriminalized possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, and he’s trying to pretend that’s a huge amount of pot. It isn’t. His lie, on the other hand, is enormous.

Back in April, the Metropolitan Police Dept. here in D.C. announced plans to go door-to-door asking to search homes in high-crime neighborhoods. Flex Your Rights joined with several local groups to oppose the measure and we shot this great video of Matt Fogg from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition speaking at a community meeting.

I post it now because it randomly popped up at The Agitator and DrugWarRant last week and I realized I’d never shared this here. Matt Fogg is wildly entertaining and gets me riled up every time I run into him.



MPD cancelled the home-search program due to public opposition, proving that events like this can really make a difference.

Radley Balko has been covering the trial of Ryan Frederick, the Virginia man who was charged with murder for killing a police officer who he mistook for a burglar during a questionable drug raid.

I’ve been doing my best to report new developments, but it’s an insanely complicated situation and I just don’t have time to cover it adequately. I recommend Radley’s excellent blog The Agitator to those of you who are following the case closely.