Narcotics Checkpoint

I was going to post this in the busted section but I figure a lot of people could benefit from reading this.

Over spring break I helped a friend drive a truck from the west coast to the east coast. The specifics aren't really important but we drove almost all of I-10 and I-20. Last year we drove my car from the east coast to the west coast, taking I-40. With 2,500 miles to cover in 3 days, you basically drive all throughout the day and into the night until you can't stay awake. Once you get tired, you find a big city nearby and get a hotel room.

Sitting in a car for 12-14 hours a day isn't too bad, but smoking the occasional bowl can make it much more tolerable.

My friend picked up the truck on a Friday and then drove (6-7 hours) to come pick me up. On his way into Arizona, he hit one of the checkpoints near the border. Border Patrol is allowed to set up checkpoints within 100 miles of international borders to search cars for illegal aliens but they that's not all they are looking for. My friend had nothing in the car at the time, but they selected him to be pulled aside. They searched the truck and wasted about 45 of his time. When he picked me up that night and told me about it, I was slightly worried. We planned on carrying a few grams and small pipe with us and much of I-10 is near the Mexican border. Wikipedia came to the rescue and has a list of all permanent checkpoints maintained by Border Patrol. When we headed out on Saturday morning, we entered the coordinates of the checkpoint into the GPS. It was right across the New Mexico/Texas border in Texas so once we crossed the state line we watched the GPS to see how far away the checkpoint was. The coordinates were dead accurate and as we got within a mile of the checkpoint, traffic began to slow down. We got up to the officer and explained where we were going and we were instantly waved through.

On Sunday, we started our day out with a trip to Dimebag Darrell's grave in Arlington, TX. We planned on taking a shot of Jack Daniels Single Barrel and smoking a joint but there were a lot of people out at the time so we took a shot and then got back on the road.

I was driving around 9pm when we were in bumfuck Louisiana. I noticed there were signs up ahead and when I got close enough to read them, I started to worry. The signs said "Narcotics Checkpoint Ahead: Be prepared to stop, dogs in use". A long time ago, I read that checkpoints just for drugs are unconstitutional but I had never looked into it further. The weed belonged to me and my friend but the pipe was his. I asked him what he wanted to do and he decided we should pull off at the next exit and think about it. Even though I was pretty sure narcotics checkpoints were unconstitutional, I was worried that cops in that part of LA only followed the law when it was to their advantage.

The exit that we got off on looked like every exit we had seen in that part of Louisiana. Thick woods and no signs of civilization. As we made our way off the highway, I noticed an SUV parked in the median up ahead. We got up to the yield sign and then made a right onto the empty street. The SUV followed us and it was pretty obvious that is was a cop. He pulled us over pretty quickly and came up to my window (with a big wad of dip in his lip).

He asked for my license and then asked me to step out of the truck. We walked to the back of the truck and he asked me where we were headed. I gave him the whole story about driving the truck across the country and then he asked why we got off at that exit. I told him we were looking for gas but before I could even finish my sentence, he cut me off saying I was lying.

At this point, the tactic seemed pretty apparent. Put up signs on the highway before an exit. Instead of putting up a real checkpoint, they pull over anyone that gets off the highway. I took a second to think about my options. I was not pulled over for any traffic violations. His dashboard cam would prove that my turn onto the road and the next mile he followed me were completely legal. That is, if the dashboard cam footage doesn't magically "disappear". I was being profiled for having an out of state plate and getting off the highway at a certain exit. The interior of the truck did not smell like marijuana, but it was not very well hidden. If he had a dog (and my friend did hear barking), then we would be screwed, but we could fight it in court.

The cop asked me again if there were any drugs in the car. This time he added that he was looking for hundreds of pounds and not personal use. He said any personal amount could be thrown on the ground (but he never specified what "personal" was and what drug he was looking for). I took a chance and trusted his word. I walked back to the truck and told my friend to hand me the pill bottle that all the weed was in. The cop never went inside the car but saw that we also had a pipe, papers and eyedrops in a ziploc bag with the pill bottle. He asked for the entire ziploc back so I had everything to him.

He first opened the pill bottle and dumped about 3 grams of ground marijuana on the ground. He stepped on it once, but we probably could've scraped some up if we wanted to. Next he pulled out the small glass pipe and threw it into the woods. He handed me the pill bottle and ziploc bag back without looking through anything else. He shook my hand and thanked me. Before he left he asked if we had any weapons (no) and then asked if the tarp in the bed of the truck had any bodies under it .

He jumped back into his SUV and took off right away. We got back onto the highway and 30 minutes later realized that he missed a joint roach in the bottom of the bag.:sifone:

Overall, a pretty cool cop that seemed really impatient to go back to his spot and bust some Mexicans transporting large amounts on I-20. So kids, if you see a sign that says "Narcotics Checkpoint Ahead", don't throw shit out the window, don't pull off the highway and don't pull over. Keep going.

 

Damn, it's too bad that he stomped your weed and tossed the pipe, but it could've been a lot worse. Southern cops will usually do anything in their power to fuck you in the ass. lol

Seems like a pretty cool cop though, and it definitely could've been worse.

 

i swear i passed those SAME SIGNS and my mom said that there were probably cops off the next exit lying in wait. i cant wait to tell her! wasn't too far from the MS border? shit, my heart raced until we hit the border and were out of jurisdiction!

 

Wow awesome. Canada i would expect this, the US not so much.

In my mind that kind of punishment is a small price to pay for smoking weed.

 

Honestly, I had no idea where we were. We were trying to make it as far as Birmingham that night. I looked at the route we took and by 9pm we should have been pretty far through LA, so that sounds right.

While it's a questionable tactic at best, I still have a lot of respect for the Sheriff's Deputy I dealt with. I could tell he didn't want to waste time with two stoners, so being upfront with him really paid off.

 

fuckin right visiting Dimebag's grave man that's some cool shit. me and my boy hope to make it out that way someday and take a few shots/toke up over his grave too. he was the best guitar player ive ever heard no bullshit haha

 

Sorry it took a personal experience but never exit at a drug check point. Rule number one of riding dirty. Come on kiddies get with the program.

 

as a sidenote...

my boyfriends little brother bought a dimebag style guitar. it's pretty neat. just thought i'd mention it!

sorry about the weed, man. why didn't you try picking it up though? O:

 

I'm thinkin they probably didn't feel like pushing their luck a whole lot more for the day..

 

They do profile . I lived in vt. and in massachussetts on interstate 91 (called the heroin highway) I had to drive this everyday to bring g/f to work. They are known to pull people with vt. plates over. I've had dogs in my car 7 times. And been as many as 5 cruisers. I even had one follow me 38 miles. I've been pulled over for lic plate lights that were said to be out, next exit they were working. These cops knew who we were after a short time.
I don't live there anymore , been gone a year. I have yet to be pulled over since leaveing. They told me it was all "for the greater good"

 

why would you expect this in canada...i must disagree.....

first....being harassed by police is actually a high price to pay for smoking weed....dah

in canada we enjoy way way way less harrasement by the feds than in most of usa.....specially those southern states....dont you ever watch ''cops''


op-that was close....its a gamble when being honest with the police but it has paid off for me too....i have never not had drugs when pulled over so i am used to being very polite to the po-po

 

I think he meant he would expect cops to be lenient like that in Canada, but not the US.

 

When you mentioned the checkpoint sign, I was saying to myself, oh he is not going to take the next exit. But you did. Yeah, wow. Well, at least it's a good example of what not do to so that is cool. Thanks for the story.

Then again, I think you were lucky because they were looking for someone else.

 

Haha, I'm glad I live far away from any check points. But I would think high suspision if someone got off on the exit right where the sign was, specially if it didn't lead anywhere significant.

 

i've never seen one of these checkpoints in my life...

 

that makes more sense.......dont i feel stupid and i cant edit cause you quoted me...

i have some coma weed right now so i have been in kind of a haze for a couple weeks....cant really blame me for readin it different...sorry to that member

 

the "this" in the statement was not clearly defined. the sentence could be interpreted either way, because the aspect of the situation being described as "this" was not given form. "this leniency" on the other hand, would have made it clear.

and yes, i am entirely aware of my odd sentence structure, im high too

 

hahaha I know dude. It's hard to know what people mean over the internet anyway.

 

i suppose... but i probably would have just picked it up, considering the cop didn't really care much

 

We totally could have scraped up half the weed. I had already put it through my grinder so it would have taken some time. The cop didn't even wait for us to leave.

I hope that by posting this story in the SL it will get a lot more views than the Busted section. Just trying to save some fellow smokers from getting their stash dumped out....or worse.