Pubdate: Mon, 27 Jan 2014
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Copyright: 2014 The Trentonian
Contact:  http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: Jeff Edelstein

WEEDMAN IN JAIL FOR MARIJUANA, ALLOWED TO LEAVE JAIL TO SMOKE MARIJUANA

To be perfectly clear: Ed Forchion is currently in prison stemming 
from a marijuana charge, and the same judge that sentenced him to 
nine months in Burlington County Jail allows Forchion 10 days each 
month to fly to California to smoke marijuana.

Again: Forchion is in jail due to marijuana and he gets out of jail 
once a month - for 10 days - to go smoke marijuana.

Catch-22? More like a Fugazi-420.

Forchion - the NJWEEDMAN - has been in the middle of the marijuana 
madness for almost two decades now, but this situation ... well, you 
don't need to be stoned to feel all dazed and confused about it.

Here's the bottom line, nuts and bolts: Forchion is a cancer patient. 
He gets medical marijuana in California. Back in 2010, while in New 
Jersey, he got caught with a pound of pot in his trunk. The case 
twisted and turned through the justice system. In the middle of all 
this, New Jersey passed laws legalizing medical marijuana. Forchion 
was found guilty of possession, and thought he had a deal in place 
with the prosecution and judge for a stay of sentence while the state 
worked out its medical marijuana laws.

No such luck. Forchion walked out of a hearing without signing legal 
papers, yadda yadda yadda, ended up arrested for violating probation. 
Honestly, it would take 20,000 words to give the case justice. Go to 
njweedman.com, he'll tell you all about it.

But really, at this point, the legalese doesn't interest me. It's the 
pure nonsense of the system that has me all twisted up. Marijuana 
laws in this country are as murky as weekold bong water and as 
sensible as the guy who drinks it on a dare.

As it stands, two states - Colorado and Washington - have completely 
legalized marijuana. Another 14 states have decriminalized it. A 
handful more allow for medical use only. And then there's places like 
Oklahoma, where making pot brownies can result in a lifetime jail 
sentence. In Arizona, having a single joint could net you two years 
in prison. (Note: Arizona and Colorado sit caddy-corner on a map. You 
puff in Colorado, exhale in Arizona, you should be OK.) (Another 
note: I'm 70 percent sure the phrase "caddy-corner" would be 
hilarious if said a bunch of times in a row after getting high.)

This is insane, both in and out of the membrane. How can grass be 
legal in one state, illegal in another, kind of legal over there, 
life in prison over here ... it makes no sense.

And neither, quite frankly, does The Weedman's sentence. If this case 
doesn't tell you all you need to know about how crazy the marijuana 
laws are in this country, nothing will. He is in jail because of 
marijuana, and he is allowed to leave jail to go smoke marijuana.

In the meantime, there's not much to do except appeal the case and wait.

"I'm going back to Burlington County Jail," Forchion told me a few 
weeks back, via phone, from a Los Angeles bus stop. "It's boring. I 
just sit there in jail with a whole bunch of people who are wasting 
their lives. Boring. That's the number one thing. And it doesn't do 
one thing. What am I being corrected on? The state already legalized 
medical marijuana. I'm a medical marijuana patient. This is 
punishment for being outspoken and right."

He gets no argument from this corner.
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