[Sativa]

The standing vice-president of the UA chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws will go in front of the judicial board in two weeks for the possession of marijuana and being under the influence of it, he said.

Charles McClure is being tried by the judicial board under suspicion of possessing un-weighable amounts of marijuana and being under its influence for two separate cases, McClure said.

McClure came into his room Feb. 7 to find two police officers, his roommate and a resident assistant, he said. The police were called to search the room because the RA had received a complaint from his roommate that McClure was smoking marijuana and hiding it in a sock, according to the police call log.

"I talked to the police," McClure said. "They told me explicitly that they had not found anything in my room and that they wanted to conduct a search," McClure said.

Because the sock was in plain view, the police were able to inspect it while McClure was gone. Inside the sock there was a baggie containing marijuana residue, but not enough to be used, said Lt. Gary Crain, pubic information officer for UAPD. A usable amount of marijuana must be found to press charges, Crain said.

"It has to be enough to put into a pipe or make into a cigarette," Crain said.

McClure allowed the police to search his room, which yielded no evidence of illegal activity, he said. The police made no arrests, and no charges were made, Crain said.

McClure was told during a pre-hearing interview with the UA judicial board that he was being sent to the board because a baggie containing un-weighable amounts of marijuana was found in the sock, McClure said. The baggie was discovered by police before McClure was present for the UAPD search, McClure said.

"The baggie in question has since been destroyed," McClure said. "As far as I am concerned, the baggie never existed."

The two police officers took nothing from the room, Crain said. Any usable amount of pot found would likely have been kept for evidence, not destroyed, Crain said.

The officers who searched McClure's room did not refer him to the judicial board, Crain said.

The judicial board is also trying McClure for being under the influence of marijuana, McClure said. A police officer was sent to McClure's room Feb. 17 because someone had reported the smell of marijuana, according to another police call log. McClure did not allow them to search the room, so the police officer referred him to the judicial board for the smell of marijuana coming from his room, according to the call log.

"The smell of pot is a very common occurrence at Humphreys Hall," McClure said. "Smell does not constitute use, it constitutes smell."

Legal standards for criminal cases do not necessarily apply to the judicial board, Crain said. The burden of proof is not the same, nor is the requirement of evidence the same, he said. Just because no criminal charges were brought against McClure, it does not mean he could not be sent to the judicial board.

"If the officers had reason to believe he was doing that but couldn't find anything, they could recommend him to the judicial board," Crain said.

Although a date for the hearing has not been set, McClure has been placed on academic probation, he said.

"I'm upset about being punished worse than someone who was caught drinking," he said.

McClure was specifically told that his position with NORML had nothing to do with his being tried, he said. McClure has smoked marijuana before, and this will be his first offense, he said.

Newshawk: CoZmO - 420Magazine.com
Source: The Arkansas Traveler (AR)
Author: Jack Willems
Copyright: Copyright 2007 The Traveler
Website: The Traveler