With Ohio cities like Cincinnati making the mere possession of a joint punishable by up to 30 days in jail — and our very own Punch planting seeds for similar legislation in the minds of local councilman (unintentionally, of course!) — maybe its time for a refresher course in surviving police encounters.
Below you'll find a 45-minute video, courtesy of the Flex Your Rights Foundation, entitled Busted. It provides several scenarios in which folks are approached by cops for minor traffic violations or noise complaints, but end up being arrested for possession. After all, cops seldom pull you over for driving high or knock on your door for smoking pot too loudly. They always get you some other way.
Busted carefully illustrates the right and wrong ways of dealing with cops in order to deflect unwarranted searches. Though ironically ripe with the cheesiness of those D.A.R.E. videos you watched in grade school, Busted does provide a few good tips — like how to resist a cop's search of your car when you know your weed is sitting in the glove box.
Some of this might seem like common sense — or completely useless — but since most stoners don't spend their time memorizing the Constitution, it probably doesn't hurt to brush up on how not to self-criminalize. Who knows, you just might save yourself from a month in the slammer. — Denise Grollmus
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