Plano Drug Charges Law Blog

According to a new study done by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), blacks in Texas are about two times more likely than whites to be arrested for possession of marijuana, well below the national average. The study says that the states with the worse racial bias are Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, where blacks are about eight times more likely to be arrested. The level of bias in Washington, DC is also very high. Statistics show that the rate of marijuana use among blacks and whites is about the same, so an unacceptable level of racial bias is emerging.

The level of racial bias emerging in enforcement of marijuana possession laws has been growing for over a decade. The ACLU has pointed the finger at federal law enforcement funding programs that offer incentives that lead to racial profiling. They say that these programs drive police to make more arrests in poor neighborhoods in order to meet arrest quotas, and that they focus on the most minor offenses. The ACLU argues that the war against marijuana is not working and that billions of dollars of taxpayer money are being wasted on a losing effort. Most arrests catch low level marijuana users without making a dent in drug trafficking, says the ACLU.

On May 30, a United States District Court judge sentenced a 42-year-old Texas resident on drug charges. The case began when law enforcement officials allegedly received notification from an unidentified informant that a specific vehicle would be carrying illegal drugs. The exact nature of the information received from the informant was not indicated.

On Jan. 25, police officers stopped the vehicle on IH-10. A search of the vehicle allegedly turned up 31.91 kilograms of cocaine. Further investigation led officers to believe that the accused man had received thousands of kilograms of cocaine from the Gulf Cartel and distributed the drugs throughout the United States over the past ten years. It was not stated that the man was present during the search, but he was nonetheless charged with drug trafficking.

A Texas sting operation reportedly led to the arrest of four men for dealing methamphetamines near a hotel on May 18. When agents interrupted them in the middle of the drug transaction, one of the men allegedly seemed as though he was going to run over an officer with his vehicle, so an agent shot and injured the accused man.

Authorities reported that a confidential informant brokered a methamphetamine buy of 22 pounds of the drug for a total of $330,000 from two of the men. They arranged to make the exchange of drugs and money the following day.

The lawsuit of a prison inmate will make a rare appearance before a state Supreme Court on a question of illegal search and seizure. Like Texas, California's state Supreme Court only hears cases of particular interest; out of 8,000 annual petitions, only 75 are heard each year. This particular case involves the seizure of evidence related to drug manufacturing from the inmate's former home during a search which was consented to by his then live-in girlfriend.

The inmate, who is reputed to be a gang veteran, was arrested on charges of robbery, firearms possession and domestic abuse in 2009 and is currently serving a 14-year sentence. He challenged the lower court's conviction, stating that the search of his apartment was illegal. In that incident, the police arrived at the apartment in response to a domestic abuse call from a neighbor. The inmate stated that he told police they had no right to come in the apartment. He was arrested and removed from the premises. When police asked his girlfriend for permission to search the apartment, the girlfriend agreed and the police allegedly recovered a shotgun, ammunition, a knife and gang paraphernalia.