Nacogdoches Police have arrested a local man and recovered felony amounts of marijuana and codeine.
Officers with the NPD Street Crimes Unit received intelligence from other officers of drug trafficking occurring at College Park Apartments at 1516 Pearl Street.
Officers contacted the resident of the apartment, who admitted to being in possession of marijuana. Officers seized approximately one half pound of marijuana and 129 grams of codeine.
Arrested was Franklin Gines, age 24 of Nacogdoches. He is charged with felony possession of marijuana and felony possession of a controlled substance. He was taken to the Nacogdoches County Jail.
Franklin your momma and daddy would be so proud of you,rest their souls..
It’s not the mere possession of said substances that is illegal. Though I’m pretty sure someone named “Free Country” has a tenuous enough grasp on the world around them that this will do little more than bounce lifelessly off the strong stone walls around their mind… I’ll try anyway.
Both Marijuana and Codeine are controlled substances, (this isn’t the right place for a discussion on whether they should be or not), which means that in small quantities you can have it, even buy it legally in the case of codeine, but there’s a line, arbitrary though it may be, that when crossed becomes illegal possession. For it to become a felony possession one must have a great deal of these substances. It is often assumed that possession of this amount equates “intent to distribute” which is a felony for an array of reasons, some arbitrary some quite valid.
Our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness does not encompass the right or freedom to, break the law. Whether a law is just or not, it is still the law and very few of them have no valid backing.
The Law,
I appreciate your comments, and the fact that you didn’t just jump to name-calling, although the implication that I am close minded didn’t go unnoticed. I would posit that my mind is more open to others’ ideas than most posters here. I would think that openly challenging conventional wisdom would earn me a little credit for being capable of independent thought.
I am of the view that the reason for a law is not to prevent future offenses, but to punish one actually committed. Law should be based on the principles of property rights and individual liberty. Since non-compliance is punishable by being stripped of your rights and being locked in a cage, we should avoid “assumptions” and “arbitrary lines” in our legislation. This does mean that some will use their freedom of choice to do things that you may not like.
The “law” is really just an idea that is written down by people. Some are valid, some are not. The “law” can never grant a right not given by nature, but it can take away natural rights which are endowed by our Creator. Isabel Paterson said “A government cannot mend a broken leg, but it can command the mutilation of a sound body.” You see, the natural state of man is freedom. Governments don’t grant it, they limit it. This is acceptable to the extent that they are protecting others’ freedoms like laws against murder and theft. But when laws limit individual liberties just to prevent an event that hasn’t taken place, or to urge a certain preferred behavior, they are unjust. I don’t think blind obedience to unjust laws is not the vision that our founders had in mind when they penned our founding documents. “Our country’s founders cherished liberty, not democracy.” – Ron Paul
Possession of a plant and some medicine they sell at every drug store, and that’s a felony? Some free country we live in. So much for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Dope Head