dont you guys get paranoid?

[buger_piker]

i live in ga and i checked the law and it said if you have more than an ounce then you could end up in prison for ten years. wow i fuckin hate georgia i wish i can go back to chitown my hometown. anyways dont you get paranoid?

[Skurt_Russell]

Probably the biggest chance you have of getting busted is of course smoking pot in public places, which is usually not a good idea, especially if you live in a city like Atlanta. Knowing the area and the intensity of the police presence is important if you choose to do so. I particularly like to roll mine in a cigarette because no one's gonna think twice when they see you light up. And instead of passing it around and looking suspicious, all of my friends roll their own individual cigarette. It's just dumb to be somewhere huddled in a circle passing something around.

BUT ANYWAY. I guess the second biggest way to get busted is of course through a traffic stop or roadblock. Here are some precautionary measures to lessen your chances of getting pulled over:

HAVE A ROUTE AND STICK TO IT. You should know the dealer's neighborhood like the back of your hand and make a pre-planned route to and from your house. You have focus. You know where you're going. YOU ARE GOING HOME! The less time you spend on the road THE BETTER!

So, once you make your purchase, get in your car and obey all traffic laws! Do not smoke or sample the goods at your dealer's house -- this is bad, bad, bad, because chances are you're not going to wanna hang around there long enough to come down. And even when you come down you will look wrecked and thus, suspicious!

Basically, treat it like a fine-tuned military operation! Keep track of how long it takes to make a deal and plan around it. A schedule is key!

BUT, all that being said, if you are a habitual marijuana user you will find yourself pulled over FOR SOMETHING and you will have marijuana in your car. You cannot avoid this. Even if you're a good driver you will hit a roadblock at some point -- this is inevitable, so:

Be nice to the officer! Speak when spoken to, look him in the eyes (because your eyes will be clear, remember?). Say "YES SIR" and smile. DON'T FLATTER HIM OR MAKE JOKES AND FOR FUCK'S SAKE DON'T BE NERVOUS. Remember, YOU ARE HEADED HOME. You need no excuse, because...YOU ARE HEADED HOME! ;-)

Don't have a record! People with clean records usually don't get searched. If you have a record or prior drug arrests, you will get searched, so be prepared! Also, not being black or latino helps around these parts, as well. Maybe grab a clean-cut white boy to go along with you! ;-)

Dress nicely and keep clean (maybe a bit difficult for some stoners). If you are pulled over it will help that you don't fit the bill of what most coppers and/or squares consider to be a drug user. Put that weed necklace away and ditch the Marley or Dead shirt. Also, having left-winger propaganda on your car won't help, either!

It's also been proven that keeping the interior of your car clean and without clutter will lower your chances of the officer asking to search your vehicle. Think about it -- ever walk by a car in a parking lot and just see it full of all kinds of shit -- clothes, CD cases, cigarettes, soft drink cans? Don't your eyes just start wandering around the interior as you become more inquisitive about what the hell else that person could have in there? You don't want a cop to do that! And if you smoke cigs or cigars -- DON'T. Some cigarette's smell can easily be confused for weed. Freshen up that car!

Finally, if you live in a rural community, keep your activities low-key. People love nothing more than to tattle on each other and some of these tattle-tale snitches are all buddy-buddy with the good old boy coppers.

If you do all of this, you'll probably drop your chances of getting busted PHENOMENALLY, thus lessening your paranoia! Drug laws in GA are insane, unfair, and they will not hesitate to find every reason to lock your ass up for 5-7. The drug trade around here is also extremely clannish because of this, making it hard for nice people like myself to find weed!

WELCOME TO GEORGIA! ;-)

[blackbarbie]

I'm the type of person who thinks nothing is ever gonna happen to me (stupid, i know) so i don't really think about it. plus i look kinda innocent

[fikusroot]

The police dont care. Go onto youtube and theres a legit video made by some of the nice democrats that live in our country of republican assholes telling you how to avoid getting arrested if you're pulled over and carrying weed. The tick is to keep saying that you DO NOT CONSENT TO ANY SEARCHES. They'll try to pull tricks like say "We just need to search your car, standard procedure." or "What, is there something you have to hide."
Just say that you are entitled to your privacy and to your protection under the 5th ammendment and do not want to have your car searched. If he keeps asking you questions but still doesn't seem to have anything on you. Ask him if he's charging you with anything. The usual responce is to answer with more questions but just keep asking if you're free to go. AND BE CALM. THE POLICE ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS, THEY DON'T WANT TO BARGAIN WITH YOU AND THEY DONT CARE ABOUT WHATEVER STORIES OR EXCUSES YOU GIVE THEM. Just be polite and smile and even if they do get something on you, you have a better chance of the court getting the evidence thrown out becuase the police obtained it illegally.

I'll share with you a quick story. I got pulled over for having overdo parking tickets. The cop comes up and asks me if I know why he pulled me over. They always do. You are supposed to say "I don't know, why did you pull me over?" so I did. He said it was the tags. I had half an ounce of weed in my backpack in the seat behind me. He asked me if I kew my tags were overdue and I said no. Then he started getting mad because he knew I porbably had drugs because I had a Bob Marley shirt and my car was a mess. He asks me if I'd been drinking which was total bullshit but I said no. He told me to get out of the car and then they did a breathalyzer test. 0.00. He told me to wait in the back of the squad car so I asked if he was arresting me. He and his partner kind of looked at one another and he admitted that no they weren't, that they just wanted me to get in the back of the car. I asked to sit on the curb but they insisted I sit in the back of the squad car but first they did a patdown. They found nothing. So I'm sitting in the back of the car and the first cop tells me that they are going to call a tow truck to tow the car away but first they need my keys because they need to search my car and that if I had any drugs or alcohol in there I better tell them now because I'll get in trouble later. I'll just type word for word what I said but keep in mind I was getting kind of pissed. This probably isn't the best way to get police of you're case but I've found that lots of big words and legal knowledge and not being poor or black can really be advanageous.
"So do you?"
"Aren't you supposed to ask me if I consent to a search? Because I don't."
"Answer my question son."
"Only after you tell me why you're trying to compromise my fifth ammendment rights over expired tags...Sir."
"Listen son, you are required by law to answer my question, now do you have drugs or alcohol in the car?"
'No sir."
"So then why won't you let us search you."
"Because I value my rights."
"Listen son, if you won't let us search then we'll bring out the dogs and if they smell something we will have cause to search your car and if we find anything, it will be a whole lot worse then if we just settle this now."
(I was getting really fucking scared but was even more mad at the cops and just smiled and asked "Am I free to go now?"
Well, they brought the dogs and they didn't smell anything and they towed my car. My dad pulled up and like me was as mad as hell. It all ended with my dad threatening to press charges for interrogation without probable cause. The moral of the story. Atlanta Police are out of hand and dont wear Bob Marley Shirts or hemp or have long hair because apparently they are probable cause for interrogation.

[machinehead83]

Hate to be the one to brake this to you, but MOST of the city of Atlanta is VERY liberal (just check out the elected officials). The state has been run by Dems for over 130 years....The Pot Nazis are equally distributed in BOTH parties and the laws on the books in GA were written and passed by a predominently DEM legislature. I no longer belong to either party since they are both corrupt and feed on us like leeches.

[Baska]

ive been caught smoking before son of a bitch just broke my bowl and said dont smoke and gave me back my weed.
same shit happened to my friends before a couple time, most cops are cool just be respectful and dont try to fucking hide it

or run.... thats what thing were good at in ga

RUN LIKE FUCK :P

[justindolan]

The cops in tha ATL are some of the best when it comes to using there judgement in letting smokers slide for a minor offense that could very well keep you from being admiteed to college or qualifing for financial aid. Don't wait until you're in trouble. Due your part now - fight for the end of this ridiculous prohibition. I signed up to be a speaker for L.E.A.P. (Law Enforcement fot the End of Prohibition).

[alcohol kills]

Quite honestly cops are going to do what they want when they want and how they want and for anyone with doubts of this read the law and police acadamy rules and the protocal officers follow. Probable Cause is going to get your car searched NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY!!!! You say "no" BOOM probable cause, you say why, or hesitate to answer BOOM Probable cause.

here read this and THAT SAYS IT ALL NO MORE GUESSING

PROBABLE CAUSE

The Fourth Amendment has two clauses. The first states that people have a right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures, and the second states that no warrant shall issue except upon probable cause. The roots of the second clause -- the probable cause requirement -- lie in English and American colonial history. Prior to the framing of our Constitution by the founding fathers, the government had virtually unlimited power to believe, right or wrong, that any illegal items they were looking for would be found. In England, this all-purpose power took the form of what were called general warrants; in colonial America, they were called writs of assistance. To protect against the abuses inherent in this kind of power, the Framers added a probable cause requirement.

The probable cause requirement is, in many ways, more important than the reasonableness clause. Not all search and seizures require warrants (e.g., automobile searches, arrest in a public place), but the Supreme Court has interpreted warrantless searches and seizures as unreasonable unless preceded by probable cause. This means that as a general rule, most searches and seizures require probable cause.

It's an example of the procedural law's attempt to balance, or accommodate, competing interests. On the one hand, it protects from arbitrary intrusions into liberty and privacy, but on the other hand, it gives sufficient leeway to government officials by not being as strong of a standard as proof beyond a reasonable doubt. More leeway is granted to law enforcement under the standard of reasonable suspicion (see this Lecture on Stop & Frisk), and the standard of reasonableness under all circumstances used in school searches and sweeps. The Supreme Court has indicated that any exceptions to the probable cause requirement will be few in number. The Supreme Court has referred to its interpretation of probable cause as the "accumulated wisdom of precedent and experience."

DEFINITIONS

The precise meaning of "probable cause" is somewhat uncertain. Most academic debates over the years have centered around the differences between "more probable than not" and "substantial possibility". The former involves the elements of certainty and technical knowledge. The latter involves the elements of fairness and common sense. There's more adherents of the latter approach, but how do you define common sense. Supreme Court case law has indicated that rumor, mere suspicion, and even "strong reason to suspect" are not equivalent to probable cause. Over the years, at least three definitions have emerged as the best statements:

Probable cause is where known facts and circumstances, of a reasonably trustworthy nature, are sufficient to justify a man of reasonable caution or prudence in the belief that a crime has been or is being committed. (reasonable man definition; common textbook definition; comes from Draper v. U.S. 1959)

Probable cause is what would lead a person of reasonable caution to believe that something connected with a crime is on the premises of a person or on persons themselves. (sometimes called the nexus definition; nexus is the connection between PC, the person's participation, and elements of criminal activity; determining nexus is the job of a judicial official, and it's almost always required in cases of search warrants, not arrest warrants)

Probable cause is the sum total of layers of information and synthesis of what police have heard, know, or observe as trained officers. (comes from Smith v. U.S. 1949 establishing the experienced police officer standard)

There are of course, other definitions, and it's a fact of life in criminal justice that different judicial officials use different definitions. Judges will always have the last word on probable cause. Police will use whatever judicial official is available, preferred, or the court system may have a rotating duty roster for judges or magistrates to sit for nothing but warrants. The Good Faith Exception to the Exclusionary Rule protects the police to some degree in errors made by magistrates (where an appeals court rules that the magistrate signed off too leniently on probable cause). The Sixth Amendment also requires a person arrested without a warrant be brought before a magistrate without delay. This is called First Appearance, and it involves a judicial affirmation of probable cause. Many jurisdictions also still have something called the Preliminary Hearing, and it involves the determination of whether there are reasonable grounds to believe someone is guilty (not reasonable doubt, but jacked-up probable cause). Modernized court systems combine the First Appearance and Preliminary Hearing into one Probable Cause Hearing (eliminating the redundancy).

There are a few things from other areas of the law that have relevance for the law of probable cause. One of these is the area of privacy. A "search" is in many ways a violation of privacy, a quest for something. Therefore, the Katz definition of privacy (expectation of privacy) prevails and in many ways supplements the particularity requirement (searches cannot be exploratory in hopes of finding something; they must be calculated, looking for something specific). Under Katz, only things a person clearly expects or deems private are protected; anything on display or in a public place is not protected. The area of electronic surveillance is also relevant. States cannot generally give their officers more power than the federal government allows when it comes to technology, but there are loosened restrictions on consent and different definitions of private (e.g., email) under wiretapping law. A "seizure" involves a dispossession of a person's exercise of dominion or control of a thing; the detaining of their body in the case of arrest. The only things that should be seized, as a general rule, are items within Plain View or under the immediate control of a suspect (the Chimel Rule), but in some cases (under conspiracy, racketeering, and asset forfeiture laws), a person can be dispossessed of things faraway and distant (like Swiss Bank Accounts) if the items are instrumentalities or proceeds of the crime. The law of seizure generally recognizes two precedent-setting cases:

Brinegar v. U.S. 338 US 160 (1949) -- (Probable Cause to Arrest) -- provides details on how to determine if a crime has been or is being committed

Carroll v. U.S. 267 US 132 (1925) -- (Probable Cause to Search) -- provides details on the belief that seizable property exists in a particular place or on a particular person.

[4twentE]

Very highly unlikely you'd go to jail for more than 90 days for most any pot charge in GA. Getting caught in the ATL area, they're likely to let you go for a misdemeanor amount. You'd be lucky to get away with more than an ounce anywhere. Felony arrests just make too much money for them to let you slide. I'm just glad I don't live in Nevada. I hear it's really rough out there.

[BwiseLegalize]

No used to in my younger days, not anymore though.

Just be smart, amd remember, --you are the company you keep!--

So think ahead and avoid stupid shit frankly

:pimp: