Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: Ganeen on February 05, 2012, 10:14 am

Title: Is buying weed from a vendor in the same state more "legal"?
Post by: Ganeen on February 05, 2012, 10:14 am
This is just a theoretical question because I doubt that any vendor would tell you what state they operate out of, but this is something worth discussing.

If your package were to get intercepted by LE and they catch you, would they charge you for a state crime or a federal crime (I.E. more than one state)?  If the answer is a federal crime, then would it be possible to skirt this by dealing with a vendor that lives in the same state as you and therefor not possible to be charged with a federal crime?
Title: Re: Is buying weed from a vendor in the same state more "legal"?
Post by: Oldtoker on February 05, 2012, 10:17 am
If your talking within the US, it doesn't matter whether the package crossed state lines.  The USPS was used so it is a Federal Crime.
Title: Re: Is buying weed from a vendor in the same state more "legal"?
Post by: demetri on February 05, 2012, 11:46 am
This is just a theoretical question because I doubt that any vendor would tell you what state they operate out of, but this is something worth discussing.

If your package were to get intercepted by LE and they catch you, would they charge you for a state crime or a federal crime (I.E. more than one state)?  If the answer is a federal crime, then would it be possible to skirt this by dealing with a vendor that lives in the same state as you and therefor not possible to be charged with a federal crime?

I'm not an American so I'm probably not the best person to answer this...but isn't it a felony (federal crime) to have possession of weed in many states? There's very few states where it's not? If you're in one of those states, then I guess it would be better to buy from local dealers if you can if you wished to avoid a felony. But you could argue that it's more likely you'll get busted if you deal face to face with people in your own state, than if you deal anonymously with vendors online out of state (providing of course the vendor you buy from uses good packaging and takes sensible precautions to protect you by not storing your address etc).

I guess it really depends on your state laws and the way police deal with possession. I know in many countries that police are not really too concerned about small quantities of weed which is considered personal use. If it's a first offense or even a second offense they will usually just tell you off or caution you, without you going to court. I don't know if it's the same in US where your country is on the whole a lot stricter about drugs using. I think many people worry too much about what are small quantities (< 28g). Obviously if you're buying big quantities which could be considered more than personal use, and/or if you're a growing a dozen plants in your attic or something, that's a whole different story..

EDIT: Just decided to do a bit of research into this... it seems quite a few States in US have now decriminalized small amounts of cannabis possession (< 28g). This map on Wikipedia shows which States: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_that_have_decriminalized_non-medical_cannabis_in_the_United_States

It's not so straightforward though I see. Although those States have independently set their own laws and punishments on cannabis possession and taken a relaxed approach on small quantities, it seems that federal laws in the US technically still apply to anyone in those States. So as the previous poster indicated..although you might get away with it if you got busted in your State, if you get busted by LE at the federal level (i.e. packet intercepted), they will charge you with a felony and federal law would apply in your State court?




Title: Re: Is buying weed from a vendor in the same state more "legal"?
Post by: N2DEEP on February 05, 2012, 12:47 pm
The supreme court has ruled on a number of occasions that irrespective of the location of participating parties the use of the internet is sufficient to apply the standards interstate commerce to an illegal transaction. So no, not really.
Title: Re: Is buying weed from a vendor in the same state more "legal"?
Post by: doublemint on February 05, 2012, 04:28 pm
This is just a theoretical question because I doubt that any vendor would tell you what state they operate out of, but this is something worth discussing.

If your package were to get intercepted by LE and they catch you, would they charge you for a state crime or a federal crime (I.E. more than one state)?  If the answer is a federal crime, then would it be possible to skirt this by dealing with a vendor that lives in the same state as you and therefor not possible to be charged with a federal crime?
Federal crime regardless, they can be your next door neighbor.

Which got me thinking. A question to all drug vendors, what if someone gave you there address, and lived in your neighborhood. Would you just go knock on there door and be like, express shipping from SR. Because that would be fucking hilarious.
Title: Re: Is buying weed from a vendor in the same state more "legal"?
Post by: MagicMan on February 05, 2012, 08:42 pm
This is just a theoretical question because I doubt that any vendor would tell you what state they operate out of, but this is something worth discussing.

If your package were to get intercepted by LE and they catch you, would they charge you for a state crime or a federal crime (I.E. more than one state)?  If the answer is a federal crime, then would it be possible to skirt this by dealing with a vendor that lives in the same state as you and therefor not possible to be charged with a federal crime?
Federal crime regardless, they can be your next door neighbor.

Which got me thinking. A question to all drug vendors, what if someone gave you there address, and lived in your neighborhood. Would you just go knock on there door and be like, express shipping from SR. Because that would be fucking hilarious.

Hilarious and awesome, yes, but also highly dangerous for the vendor
Title: Re: Is buying weed from a vendor in the same state more "legal"?
Post by: Derpasaurus on February 05, 2012, 09:24 pm
Actually yes, if the shipment doesn't go across state lines, you get a lesser prison sentence. However who knows if say California mail isn't re-routed to some Oregon hub or something, then sent out from there. Vendor could also locally courier it to you through another method or even better GPS drop

When you get pinched, they layer on the charges
-using post office for crime (fed offence)
-crossing state lines another offence
-posession with intent to sell if large enough.. ect.. ect.

If you used fake ID for a PO box yet more charges.

That said it's better to wind up in federal prison system than the state if you're going to end up doing time. Better food, less violent inmates and all around better conditions. State prisons are jammed to the hilt with violent street gang members
Title: Re: Is buying weed from a vendor in the same state more "legal"?
Post by: Tommyhawk on February 05, 2012, 11:26 pm
Something worth keeping in mind is.... if your vendor knows what they are doing in terms of packaging, there is almost a nonexistant chance your package will get caught, assuming it is contained with the same country.

When it comes to crossing country borders, customs gets involved, and even then, if your vendor packages correctly, chance of getting caught is very very slim.

With amounts under an ounce or 2, they will probably just confiscate it.

I personally don't think you should be focusing too much on the federal penalty vs state penalty, than you should be on the likely hood of it getting to that point.

The only news reports I've heard of people getting busted for drug shipments in the mail, were stupid things like.... someguy sending 8 pounds in the mail, no vac sealed bags, and the box having quite the odor coming from it.