Drug Crimes, Substance Abuse Possesion Citation

[EricsMOM]

My 16 year old drove my blazer to school. Long story short, it was searched and they found what they referred to as green leafy material on the floor of the back seat and cited him for possesion of marijuana. We didn't even know it was there. My son told the officer that the only way it could have gotten there is when he picked up a friend who threw his bag in the back on the floor. I asked the officer how much they found and he said that he managed to scrape up enough to test it and save a small amount for evidence. He said it wasn't enough to quantify. My son passed a drug test on the day of the search so I beleive him. His friend has since been busted twice for possesion and use of marijuana so it adds up. There is a $300 fine for this. Will it do me any good to go to court and explain the situation or should we just save the trouble and pay the fine? Is there a requirement on the amount they need to find to site a person?

 

[raskalnikov]

He said it wasn't enough to quantify.

That's pretty much never true. Anything is quantifiable, up to the atom. . .

Marijuana possession varies greatly not just State by State, but also localities. There are areas where I live where it's a civil infraction, others where it's a misdemeanor they go crazy about. . .

Is it a civil infraction or misdemeanor?

 

[EricsMOM]

It was written as a municipal citation only. I just read an article on a Law Firms website that states that when there are small amounts and a where it is a teens first offense an officer can but is not required to write it up as a municipal citation. It carries a $300 fine and doesn't reqiure a court appearance. They would have had the right to take consider it a misdemeanoer and didn't. I too can't beleive that we couldn't get a quantitative answer to our question.