This is messed up: A teenager with no former record in Round Rock, Texas could end up serving life in prison for using hash oil in some brownies he baked and sold. Asshole officials are giving 19-year-old Jacob Lavoro the exact opposite of a slap on the wrist, charging him with a first-degree felony for using the oil instead of regular weed. (Hash oil is prosecuted more harshly because it has a higher THC content than regular old MJ.)
The Weight of Hash Oil
Apparently, Lavoro’s ill-fated decision to use hash oil “allows the state to use the entire weight of the brownies—sugar, cocoa, butter and other ingredients—to determine the weight of the drugs.”
The brownies confiscated by the local cops allegedly weighed around 1.5 pounds; if he’s found guilty, Lavoro could end up with a sentence that ranges from five years behind bars to life in prison. That said, he didn’t just have the hash brownies on him; when he was busted last month, he was also caught with a pound of weed, digital scales, about $1,675 in cash, plus plastic bags of marijuana and 145 grams of hash oil.
Potential Punishment Does Not Fit the Crime
Obviously people are pissed about this, because Lavoro seems like he’s being used as a scapegoat for toughening up pot restrictions in Texas. His dad, for one, is pretty freaked out (and for good reason). “If [Jacob] did something wrong he should be punished, but to the extent that makes sense. This is illogical. I’m really upset, and I’m frightened, I’m frightened for my son,” he said.
Marijuana reform workers are also outraged by Lavoro’s potential fate. “This case highlights both the absurdity and devastation of our nation’s ongoing war on marijuana,” Erik Altieri, spokesperson for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, wrote to the Huffington Post via email.
Not Worth The Effort
Lavoro is far from the only person targeted for silly-seeming pot crimes. Just take a look at LifeForPot.org for its extensive list of prisoners who were sentenced to life in prison for weed-related crimes.
It’s ridiculous, no? And actually pretty offensive, if you ask me—the resources being used on crimes like this instead of ones that are, y’know, actually kinda harming people.
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