America's Biggest Pothead gets seven years

[jmowreader]

I told you about Michael Ihler before. Ihler, of St. Maries, Idaho, is the guy who claimed his 597 pot plants were for personal use.(You may remember Ihler was the guy who tore part of the roof off his house so the weed growing in his living room would get natural light.)

He got 5 years fixed prison time, 2 years indeterminate time (meaning if he doesn't adequately reform in the first five they can leave him in there for two more) and a $15,000 fine.

Ihler is so fortunate I'm not his judge. This asshole went into his sentencing hearing with the standard "I put marijuana in front of my family, relationships and responsibility" canned line that everyone who majorly fucks up uses to try to sweet-talk the judge into a lower sentence. And if he had been busted with four or five plants I might believe it. But this asshole cut off the roof of his fucking house so he could run a commercial pot farm in his living room. He is the closest thing to a drug lord St. Maries will ever see, and I would have put him away for 20 years.

[spanone]

1. for growing a weed...you'd give him 20 years? wow.

[jmowreader]

13. St. Maries has 2500 people in it

There aren't enough people who smoke marijuana in the whole of Benewah County to use all the marijuana he was growing.

If he was growing enough plants for himself and his friends...okay, you got to give him five years just because there's a mandatory minimum but certainly no more than that. At 600 plants he's one of the Inland Northwest's major pot suppliers.

What really pisses me off about this guy is the AA line he was laying down in court. If he would have come right out and said he was a pot farmer but he saw the error of his ways, okay five years. Or if he would have been lured into growing a handful of plants by the siren song of the demon weed, okay five years. They give you no leeway below that. But the devil weed Marihuana led him to tear the roof off his house? I just watched Reefer Madness and I assure you that no one in a drug-addled haze ever tore off the roof. No, unbridled greed led him to plant 597 pot plants; claiming the evil weed itself rather than the $150 an ounce it sells for here led him to do what he did would have led me to lock him up until he was eligible for Medicare.

[hobbit709]

15. Devil weed? Are you channeling Harry J. Anslinger?

[bunnies]

16. $150.00 an ounce?

Must be some seriously shitty weed.

[Inkfreak]

32. HA! Sounds like it comes with its own seeds so you can grow too!!!

P.S.
people who include those huge freaking stems when weighing it out, suck ass

[snooper2]

27. So, you wanna get high?

[lob1]

2. Does he kill people? If not, maybe he's just a farmer.

7 years and $15,000 is a lot of time and money for being a farmer.

[Occulus]

3. It takes a very sick mind to justify 20 years for growing plants.

A very, very sick mind.

[librechik]

4. with liberal posts like these, no wonder we're still far away from justice

legalization must happen and soon. The right makes too much money off prisons.

[former9thward]

28. Whatever the political beliefs of the OP the OP itself is not liberal.

[librechik]

39. forgot the sarcasm air quotes around "liberal" n/t

[CBGLuthier]

5. bad old cannabis really upsets some folks

damned if I know why but ok.

[Incitatus]

6. His actions were very stupid.

He should have known what would happen, but I have no problem with marijuana even if he was growing it to sell. If I was on the jury, I wouldn't care what evidence they have, I would have opted for nullification.

[Bonx]

23. Yep. I'd love to derail a mj prosecution. Such a stupid waste of public $$.

[hrmjustin]

26. Welcome to DU my friend!

[SomethingFishy]

7. Oh yeah lets spend a few million to arrest, prosecute

and house this person for 20 years. Really. It's a brilliant plan.

The war on drugs is off the deep end. I watched a "Meth Raid" on TV a few nights ago. About a dozen regular cop cars, a SWAT van, and some undercover cars, to bust a guy who's "Meth Lab" amounted to a fucking jug in his backyard.

Let's keep pissing in the wind, it's quite clever. Really.

[HappyMe]

8. 20 years? Wow.

He didn't kill anyone. As far as the house goes, it's his house.

[RevStPatrick]

9. Please do not run for judge in your jurisdiction.

In fact, please don't do anything, anywhere, ever.
Other than rant on the interwebz.
You can keep doing that all you want, because nobody really cares.

[RainDog]

10. as you noted, you live in right wing heaven

as your post indicates, as well.

what separates you from republicans? you offer "kinder, gentler" fascist sentiment?

[DCKit]

11. Yes, clearly it should have been a death penalty case.

As if being a complete moron wasn't its own reward.

People that dumb end up in the Darwin awards - not a problem, as long as they don't take any innocents along with them.

[hobbit709]

12. you want to give someone more time for pot than most get for killing somebody?

You are someone I would not care to associate with in any form.

[jmowreader]

17. If he would have ever told the truth about what he's doing, I would be lenient

In Idaho, growing for personal use carries a one-year minimum. If you grow at least 100 plants you are assumed to be dealing. If you're growing 600 plants, obviously you're dealing. He has always maintained this stash was for personal use.

Then he comes into his sentencing hearing and starts telling the judge the evil weed made him do it? He even played the "addiction" card.

If the guy would have come right out and said he was growing pot and selling it because there's good money in pot, or because people should have the right to use pot, or he couldn't get any other job (in St. Maries that would have been highly believable - 11% U3 unemployment) then okay, give him as little time as possible. I would prefer to give him no time because pot should be legal. But you have to take responsibility for your actions. To claim you became one of the Inland Northwest's biggest pot farmers because the evil weed made you do it holds as much water as claiming too many Twinkies made you shoot Harvey Milk.

It's not the weed that pisses me off. It's all the lies.

[hobbit709]

20. Just how much weed do you think 600 plants yield?

I'll give you a hint-unless he's growing ditchweed it ain't no humongous amount. And if he's selling it for $150, it's definitely not kind bud.

[OriginalGeek]

22. Well yeah - once you're nabbed you try to get out of it.

The real point is that he shouldn't have even been nabbed. What he was doing should be legal.

[SomethingFishy]

38. Oh so it's not the crime but the cover up..

So I take it you think Bill Clinton should have been impeached. After all he LIED about his "crime".

Your posts reek of an anti-pot crusader who doesn't want to admit which side he's on. You went from "oh that asshole tore off his roof, he should get 20 years", to "if he had told the truth he should get minimum time...

Sad...

[Celldweller]

14. I dont see him as a drug kingpin

More like a hobbyist.

Maybe he just wants a nice variety of plants. Maybe he harvests very selectively and keeps only the nicest crop?

And 597 plants doesn't mean 597 plants, 6' tall with pine cone sized buds drooping from the stalks...

That might include clones and garbage, possibly males depending on his technical prowess.

[Comrade Grumpy]

18. Anyone who wants to "put him away for 20 years" for growing plants can take a flying fuck.

[backscatter712]

24. Amen! Fuck this authoritarian bullshit!

"Let's ruin this guy's entire life because I don't like the plants he grows!"

Makes me fucking sick to see this shit.

[Logical]

43. ^^^^ + 1000

[OriginalGeek]

19. If I were his judge

I would have thrown the case out.


Let him walk and apologized for wasting his time.

[Quantess]

21. He's a small farmer who took his work seriously.

What's so wrong about that? I bet he didn't even use hazardous pesticides.

[JackRiddler]

25. This is disgusting.

[MADem]

29. I would have sentenced him to time served and a large monetary fine.

Very large--enough to cover all the taxes on the product he sold down the years, that he didn't pay.

Remember how they got Al Capone? It wasn't his criminal activity--it was that he didn't pay TAXES on the profits he made from his criminal activity.

[Le Taz Hot]

30. Did I take a right turn somewhere?

Dude, seriously?

[Comrade Grumpy]

31. I hope the OP is pondering the reaction to his rant. And rethinking.

[hobbit709]

33. don't hold your breath.

[Logical]

41. No, he seems like he know more than anyone. n-t

[otherone]

34. no jail

[Inkfreak]

36. Maybe he was hoping for leniency. I dunno. Don't care what he says in defense of himself.

The problem here is he is doing some serious time for pot. Fracking pot man. I have never fucking met someone who says it should be illegal. I mean personally. I meet people. I talk. And if it comes up they always kinda lower their voice and say "yea, it should be legal." I don't get it. It sucks. I'm a good guy and a productive member of society. But I'm a criminal cause I love the green.

I should add, I understand the risks of my love of the green. And I would discourage my kids from abusing it. My Mom ripped me a new asshole the time I was caught smoking while skipping school. She was more angry about not applying myself in school than with the pot. As an adult with a good job and having "my shit together" she could care less if I smoke. I usually refrain from beig high around her still....she likes to tease me if she suspects I am. I love her!

[L0oniX]

37. I thought Tommy Chong held that title. n/t

[Logical]

40. LOL, wow, I have a bunch of things to say but don't really want my post locked. n-t

[Warren DeMontague]

42. If lies bother you, start with the lies which allow $60 Billion in tax dollars to go every year to

stop people from getting high.

I'm sorry, prison cells are, first and foremost, for people who do violent shit to other people.

Not someone who grows pot. Not even a lot of pot. Not even someone who does it, makes money off it, and lies about why they did it.

It should be fucking legal, regulated, and taxed. Enough already. The drug war itself is the font of stupid fucking lies, not the pothead farmer.

[quinnox]

44. sounds like you need to smoke a joint, ya know, pot is not like heroin or a hard drug??

I am very straight edged (don't smoke, don't drink) and even I tried pot when I was a teenager. It didn't do a damn thing. No sensation or feeling at all.

You sound like an ignorant right winger who thinks all drugs are the same, and are all hard drugs and scourges of the Earth like heroin or meth, and don't know what you are talking about. It is harmless compared to other drugs, that kill people on a regular basis and ruin their lives.