Seventy People Arrested for a Single Ounce of Cannabis in Georgia
Recently, 70 people were arrested in Georgia due to a raid at a 21st birthday party. Less than an ounce of cannabis was found, but no one who attended the party stepped forward to claim the cannabis.
According to the Daily Tribune, the Cartersville Police Department in Georgia announced the details of this arrest via press release that early on Sunday morning. The police were allegedly responding to shots fired at 2:18 a.m. that morning and police were dispatched to check it out.
The investigation into this incident is still ongoing and it has been revealed that a total of 70 people were arrested for possession of cannabis. (The count was originally at 63 due to those who were initially processed.) The group in its entirety only possessed less than an ounce of cannabis, but when no one stepped forward to claim it, all of them were charged.
Those who were arrested were between the ages of 19-25, and most of them were male, some of them well-known high school athletes from Bartow County’s school. It’s still not clear if there was any connection with the alleged gunshots. According to 11 Alive a flyer described the party as a Christmas lingerie and pajama party in celebration of a 21st birthday.
Later, the police obtained a warrant to search the house where the party took place. Other items discovered there included two firearms (one which was reportedly stolen), individually packaged cannabis, individually packaged cocaine and cocaine paraphernalia. However, many reports state that it was simply a cannabis charge that resulted in all of these individuals being placed under arrest.
Georgia is no stranger to unwarranted persecution on cannabis consumers. They are known for having a strict policy against recreational consumption, and police in the state have been sued for profiling cannabis consumers. Despite the fact that the state is also attempting to adopt cannabis reform they still have a long way to go before they are accepting of minor recreational users.
