Scary run-in with the police today.

I have been on the road the past several days for business. I drove from Virginia to Boulder, Colorado for some meetings. I was heading back to Virginia and in Oklahoma a state trooper pulled me over. I didn’t know why I was being pulled over. The speed limit was 70 and my cruise control was set at 72.

So I pull over, turn off the car, set the keys on the dashboard, roll my windows down, place hands on the steering wheel and wait. The trooper comes up on the passenger side and looks in.

Me: Good afternoon, Officer.
Trooper: Good afternoon. I pulled you over because the left lane is for passing only and you were driving in it for some time with nobody to pass. And when you saw me closing up on you you switched to the right lane without using your blinker. (That is all true).
Me: sorry about that, Sir.
Trooper: that’s ok. Can I see your license and insurance.
Me: yes, sir. But I need to inform you that I have a concealed carry permit.
Trooper: are you armed right now?
Me: actually, right now the gun is in a lockbox underneath my seat.
Trooper: well, it’s not going to do you any good there. *chuckle*
Me: true, I guess I opted for comfort for this long drive.
Trooper: alright, get your paperwork and I am going to have you come sit in the front seat of my patrol car.

So I go sit in his front passenger seat and he sits in his driver seat while he runs my information. I figured he just didn’t want to leave me alone with the gun.

We chit chat. It comes up in the conversation that I am retired military. He thanks me for my service. I thank him for his. He asks me the usual questions. Where are you coming from? Where are you headed? I tell him I am coming back from meetings in Boulder, Colorado. He says, “that is a long drive. Why didn’t you fly?”

Up until this moment I had been perfectly calm and was even enjoying the chat. When he asked why I didn’t fly my heart dropped in my chest. I had completely forgot about what was in my trunk. I didn’t fly because my meetings were in Colorado and I figure I would pick some goodies up while there.

So right as I remember that I had about $1,000 in marijuana vape cartridges in the trunk of my car a K-9 unit pulls up.

Crap.

continued...

This is where things get a little meta. Sure, I enjoy weed. But the reason I started using it and the reason I am willing to break the law to use it is that it is also medicine. I have some issues that I struggle with due to an event from my military career and vaping weed sometimes is the only way I can get a full night sleep uninterrupted by nightmares.

However, unlike many people with PTSD, I don’t really have “triggers”. Just a memory that haunts me. At least I didn’t think I had any triggers. It turns out feeling like I am trapped is a trigger. I didn’t know that because the last time I felt trapped was during the actual incident that resulted in me needing to use weed in the first place.

So I am sitting by the officer in his car. I am flashing back to the most horrible moment of my life when I was forced to do something horrible to save people I cared about. I am panicking. I am having an anxiety attack. Where am I? Is it the US? Is it...the other place? Is my family safe? Are they at the embassy or are they...no, they’re in the US. I am in the US. These are American police officers. This isn’t a life and death situation. It is just weed. Relax. Breathe.

At this point the trooper sitting next to me has to know I am having some sort of internal crisis. He probably thinks I am hiding something due to how scared I look. Of course I was hiding something but that wasn’t why I looked scared.

Trooper: so what is the dog going to find?
Me: *shrugs* *he is speaking English so that definitely means I am in America, right?*

The dog handler comes from my car to the car I am in and talks to me.

K9 trooper: my dog hit on your car. He is only trained to hit on cocaine, meth, heroine and marijuana. So which do you have in there?
Me: *noncommital shrug*
K9 trooper: do I have your consent to search the car?
Me: no, sir.
K9 trooper: why not?
Me: I just like exercising my rights.
K9 trooper: well, I don’t need your consent since my dog hit on your car. So I am going to search it.
Me: ok.

At this point I am hoping it is a bluff but I doubt it. I have been very careful not to lie to them and am hoping that will buy me some good will when the inevitable happens. When the K9 trooper open the trunk of my car I know he is going to find the weed. The trooper sitting next to me asks again

Trooper: what is he going to find?
Me: marijuana
Trooper: how much?
Me: not much
Trooper: a pound?

At this point I did something I hadn’t expected. I laughed out loud. It was a genuine laugh. It felt good and reminded me that I was indeed safe in the US.

Me: a pound?! No, not a pound. It is just some vape cartridges for personal use. I bought them legally at a dispensary when I was in Colorado.

Right on cue the K9 trooper pulls the bag out of the trunk. It wasn’t disguised. It was in the bag the dispensary provided, unopened with the receipt stapled to it. And Bob Marley’s giant smiling face printed right on it.

The trooper next to me gets out of the car and goes and talks to the K9 trooper for a minute. They both come to my side of the car, open the door and start asking me more questions. I am weighing in my head whether or not to ask for a lawyer and shut up. But again, it is only weed and I have a spotless record.

Trooper: that is a lot of product for one person. Who were you going to sell it to?
Me: nobody. That is for personal use. Enough to last me at least half a year. I figured I would stock up while I had the chance.
Trooper: you drove all the way to Colorado just for $1,000 of weed?
Me: no, I told you I was there for meetings. But I figured while I was there...why not?
Trooper: so you just like getting stoned?
Me: I’m not going to lie and say no, but that isn’t the main reason I got it. It helps me sleep.
Trooper: why do you have trouble sleeping?
Me: *emotions start welling back up as I think about the real answer to that question* I...I have some issues. I see a shrink but weed is the only drug that helps that doesn’t have nasty side effects and that I don’t have to take all the time.
Trooper: why do you have issues?
Me: I don’t know how I can safely answer that question.
Trooper: something happen overseas?

I wasn’t ready for this. The tears well up in my eyes despite my best efforts. I just nod my head yes. He asks if I can tell him what happened. I shake my head no. I don’t actually know if that last answer is true. It is a gray area.

He tells me to sit tight and closes the door again and goes back to talk to the K9 Officer. I start going over in my head what I need to do. I’ll call my lawyer. How does bail work? Am I allowed to pay my own bail? How long am I going to be stuck at the jail.

continued...

The trooper comes back and opens the door.

Trooper: alright, so I am going to issue a warning for the traffic violation.
Me: yes, sir. Thank you.
Trooper: we put everything back, except the weed of course. Your firearm is still under your seat and your car keys are on top of your car. Drive safe and don’t do this in Oklahoma again, ok?
Me: ...
Trooper: get out of here.

I get out of his car and I actually shake their hands and say thank you. And then I got the hell out of there.

During rest of the drive I did some thinking and came to a few conclusions.

First, the officers really cut me a break. I had enough weed that they could have made a case for intent to sell. I think the way I conducted myself, from announcing the presence of a weapon at the very beginning and not lying and having a clean record and being a veteran probably helped sway them.

Second, it is so ****ed up that the government won’t let me use something that helps me cope with a condition that I got in the service of that same government.

Third, I need to consider moving to a free state so I don’t risk going through that again.

Fourth, this issue I have is worse than I thought. The stress from that incident was enough for me to lose my grip on reality for a moment. It could have triggered a fight or flight response. What if I had been armed in that moment when I delusionally thought lives were on the line?

So for the time being I have turned my guns over to my best friend for safe keeping. I know there is a risk in doing that as well, but I don’t know what else to do.

God DAMN it, I’m crying again. I just want to live a normal ****ing life without these “demons” knocking around in my brain.

I’ll stop. I wasn’t intending to rehash this thread. It is 4:00 am. I guess I should try to sleep.

I could really have used that weed right about now. Oh well.

tldr: Skeptic Bob gets pulled over by cops. They take his weed and let him go. Skeptic Bob still whines like a bitch despite his good luck.

Skeptic Bob said:

tldr: Skeptic Bob gets pulled over by cops. They take his weed and let him go. Skeptic Bob still whines like a bitch despite his good luck.

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Glad it turned out ok, sorry about the weed. I had a friend do a similar deal, va to nv and back. Worked out, thought of Glenn Frey while reading, "be cool for twenty hours and I'll pay ya twenty grand." Do you think it is routine to call K-9? When it suddenly dawns on you what consequences you can be in for, it's hard to control and be calm, all those chemicals bouncing around telling you fight/flight. Try to sleep well.....

Skeptic Bob said:

tldr: Skeptic Bob gets pulled over by cops. They take his weed and let him go. Skeptic Bob still whines like a bitch despite his good luck.

Click to expand...

Stop, you're not whining. Damn dude, that stress of that would have gotten to me big time. I can't even imagine what it's like to struggle with PTSD. I don't know anyone who suffers from it, and all I know is what I read about, so I won't pretend I do. But I feel for you and admire your ability to talk about it, as keeping it in, doesn't usually go well.

I hope you can get some rest. If I had some weed, it would be yours!

Skeptic Bob said:

tldr: Skeptic Bob gets pulled over by cops. They take his weed and let him go. Skeptic Bob still whines like a bitch despite his good luck.

Click to expand...

There is no way that your thread is tldr.

Sucks so big time that you have to go through this.
More reasons why the US drug laws around marijuana are completely asinine.

Glad you didn't get into trouble, but really pissed off you had to lose $1000 worth of something that was bought legally in another state.


F U Oklahoma!!!! F!!! U!!!!


Dammit that sucks.

Skeptic Bob said:

I was heading back to Virginia and in Oklahoma

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Just out of curiosity, why did you dip so far south on your trip home?
Seems like a very indirect way to get from Colorado to Virginia. :shrug:

Whoa, what a story. It makes me want to write (not this, but just in general).

I would say count your blessings. If those cops followed the letter of the law you'd be in jail, so you dodged a howitzer shell right there.

Second, are there legal drug alternatives to your condition? If not then yeah, you'd better move to a free state.

Thirdly, it just shows how stupid drug laws are.

Skeptic Bob said:

tldr: Skeptic Bob gets pulled over by cops. They take his weed and let him go. Skeptic Bob still whines like a bitch despite his good luck.

Click to expand...

So sorry to hear about your mental issue, it's not something to be ashamed of.

I guess now you see why cops in my part of the country have the reputation they do. Make no mistake, had the cop not felt a sense of brotherhood via being ex-military, you'd be in jail for a few days, and it would be one of the worst experiences of your life.

What escalated the interaction was informing the cop of your CCW. That gave him cause to remove you from the vehicle and have access to the car, and that's when the games began. He was on a fishing expedition no doubt, which are impossible to stop once they begin.

CCW in your car allows the police almost unlimited authority to start fishing expeditions, and target citizens that have them, so you can avoid these games by just leaving the gun at home.

That's my advise.

Skeptic Bob said:

The trooper comes back and opens the door.

Trooper: alright, so I am going to issue a warning for the traffic violation.
Me: yes, sir. Thank you.
Trooper: we put everything back, except the weed of course. Your firearm is still under your seat and your car keys are on top of your car. Drive safe and don’t do this in Oklahoma again, ok?
Me: ...
Trooper: get out of here.

I get out of his car and I actually shake their hands and say thank you. And then I got the hell out of there.

During rest of the drive I did some thinking and came to a few conclusions.

First, the officers really cut me a break. I had enough weed that they could have made a case for intent to sell. I think the way I conducted myself, from announcing the presence of a weapon at the very beginning and not lying and having a clean record and being a veteran probably helped sway them.

Second, it is so ****ed up that the government won’t let me use something that helps me cope with a condition that I got in the service of that same government.

Third, I need to consider moving to a free state so I don’t risk going through that again.

Fourth, this issue I have is worse than I thought. The stress from that incident was enough for me to lose my grip on reality for a moment. It could have triggered a fight or flight response. What if I had been armed in that moment when I delusionally thought lives were on the line?

So for the time being I have turned my guns over to my best friend for safe keeping. I know there is a risk in doing that as well, but I don’t know what else to do.

God DAMN it, I’m crying again. I just want to live a normal ****ing life without these “demons” knocking around in my brain.

I’ll stop. I wasn’t intending to rehash this thread. It is 4:00 am. I guess I should try to sleep.

I could really have used that weed right about now. Oh well.

Click to expand...

Why not get a prescription for xananx?

Skeptic Bob said:

tldr: Skeptic Bob gets pulled over by cops. They take his weed and let him go. Skeptic Bob still whines like a bitch despite his good luck.

Click to expand...

Sorry they took your weed, but glad they didn't arrest or prosecute you. The War on Drugs is a massive failure. How much longer can it be until virtually all states legalize marijuana?

Keep in mind that even were weed is legal you are likely going to end up being forced to choose either weed or guns, you cant have both. My wife has the nightmares but for some reason the weed does not help. I know how much that sucks.

I actually think you handled this really well under the circumstances. I would've been nervous just sitting in the cop car, even if I didn't have weed, for the simple fact that this human being sitting next to me has total control over me, and we all know humans aren't perfect. How often in our lives do we turn over total control of ourselves? I mean, people don't even want to go into MRI machines and you're sitting next to a man with handcuffs and a gun who has total authority over you when it dawns on you that they're probably going to find out you have drugs in your trunk. Fear is actually a good thing because it gives us adrenaline to to take on our challenges, but you weren't going to take on anyone. You just had to sit there with an overabundance of adrenaline and the task of attempting to figure your way out of what could be a multitude of negative circumstance arising from the weed in your trunk. Well you made it through it and finally laughed when you realized there's only so much you can do. Congrats!

it sucks that in a nation, America, that is 'supposed to be' about 'freedom' one such as yourself, can legally purchase marijuana for their own personal use YET still be subject to arrest, conviction, and imprisonment for exercising your legal rights.

What a ****ed up country ...........

and where do we think that $1K worth of weed is gonna end up? uh huh ...............

Dragonfly said:

There is no way that your thread is tldr. Sucks so big time that you have to go through this. More reasons why the US drug laws around marijuana are completely asinine. Glad you didn't get into trouble, but really pissed off you had to lose $1000 worth of something that was bought legally in another state.

F U Oklahoma!!!! F!!! U!!!!

Dammit that sucks.

Click to expand...

Well to be fair, does Bob have a script for the drug? Does his state allow the use of vape pot? Many states allow the legal use/consumption/sale of various items while others don't.

Oklahoma, due to I40 running across it, is a drug pipeline. Been that way for decades, OKC local news has a highway drug bust almost every night. Bob was profiling like a drug runner- travelling by car so far to and from Colorado. We do have a law that is clear- left lane for passing only.

I'd say Bob got REAL DAMN lucky he isn't stressing in a jail cell with a bunch of hard cases. Those LEOs were really nice to him (or really like pot vape)

Anywho cursing my state for someone else's ignorance of our highway laws AND knowingly breaking the law with drugs getting off with a WARNING is a bit much... eace

Crovax said:

Why not get a prescription for xananx?

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Because of the side effects? If something natural works, why would you use a manufactured product?

Skeptic Bob said:

tldr: Skeptic Bob gets pulled over by cops. They take his weed and let him go. Skeptic Bob still whines like a bitch despite his good luck.

Click to expand...

Be thankful you were in Oklahoma and not Missouri.

Crazy story man. Hate that you went through it and that you lost the weed, but happy the cops cut you a MASSIVE break and showed the kind of empathy and judgement you want to see in your law enforcement personnel.

On the plus side, our state is inching closer and closer to at least allowing the medical version of marijuana to become legalized.

notquiteright said:

Well to be fair

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To be fair, your state's marijuana laws are completely asinine.

I personally hope that the Marijuana laws get changed on a national level. In NYS, there is the medical marijuana laws, and just last year it got expanded to include PTSD as one of the items that can be treated with it. But MJ should be taken off of schedule one, where it had no business being in the first place.

notquiteright said:

Well to be fair, does Bob have a script for the drug? Does his state allow the use of vape pot? Many states allow the legal use/consumption/sale of various items while others don't.

Oklahoma, due to I40 running across it, is a drug pipeline. Been that way for decades, OKC local news has a highway drug bust almost every night. Bob was profiling like a drug runner- travelling by car so far to and from Colorado. We do have a law that is clear- left lane for passing only.

I'd say Bob got REAL DAMN lucky he isn't stressing in a jail cell with a bunch of hard cases. Those LEOs were really nice to him (or really like pot vape)

Anywho cursing my state for someone else's ignorance of our highway laws AND knowingly breaking the law with drugs getting off with a WARNING is a bit much... eace

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I get what you're saying....but you have to admit, it's asinine that he can't drive through another state legally with something he legally purchased from a different state.

KevinKohler said:

I get what you're saying....but you have to admit, it's asinine that he can't drive through another state legally with something he legally purchased from a different state.

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Absolutely. But the sad reality is we have a lot of asinine laws like that throughout this nation. Talk to folks who carry guns for a living and work in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area and they'll undoubtedly be able to tell you stories of such things.

The laws may be asinine, we may disagree with them, but ultimately it's still incumbent on the individuals to know the laws and deal with them. It sucks, it may be stupid, but it's just the reality of matters. I don't think the point of Bob's post was attempting to make this thread, in the off-topic section, a debate about state laws.

Sucks, Bob. You work hard in life, follow the rules, don't make mistakes, and yet, one little trip up, and there you are, sitting in a patrol car, with a very unsure immediate future. Because that's all it takes, anymore. You obviously have other issues compounding that situation, but at the end of the day, so many of us in this country are always ever one slip up away from life altering consequences. In a supposed free country.

I think you handled it like a stone cold professional. I don't have PTSD, never had a panic attack in my life, however, I onetime had an officer grilling me for beer bottle caps in my car, trying to get me for drunk driving, and man, I sweating bullets. And I hadn't had a sip of booze, lol. Just empty caps on the floor on my car. But that's all it takes, anymore. Something to rouse suspicions. And once there, an officer WILL find something. For me, I ended up catching a fine for tints that were too dark for SC, even though the car was fine in FL. Because of bottle caps.

Zyphlin said:

Absolutely. But the sad reality is we have a lot of asinine laws like that throughout this nation. Talk to folks who carry guns for a living and work in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area and they'll undoubtedly be able to tell you stories of such things.

The laws may be asinine, we may disagree with them, but ultimately it's still incumbent on the individuals to know the laws and deal with them. It sucks, it may be stupid, but it's just the reality of matters. I don't think the point of Bob's post was attempting to make this thread, in the off-topic section, a debate about state laws.

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Know, his post is about stress, and his personal battles with it, from his unique experiences.

My point is, however, is that, PTSD aside, we're all stressed, because, ultimately, we're all criminals. Because of asinine stuff like this. He got pulled over for traveling too long in the left lane, lol. FFS.

I got a ticket in CT for having a baseball bat in my trunk. It's illegal, see, without also having an accompanying ball and glove. I know another guy who got a ticket for having a box cutter (like you get from Home Depot) that could extend past the legal length.

My point isn't to debate individual laws, but the very climate we live in this country that resulted in a clearly financially successful veteran with a spotless record to end up in the situation that he found himself, forced to interact with strangers during a moment of extreme duress. I'm not sympathetic, I'm ****ing angry, and you should be too.

Shame on us. Shame on us all.