NJWEEDMAN

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'NJ Weedman' welcomes his arrest on marijuana charges

By Sam Wood

Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer



Ed Forchion doesn't deny it. There was a pound of marijuana - "high-grade California Kush" - in the trunk of his rent-a-wreck when he was stopped in Mount Holly on Thursday night by a state trooper.

The dreadlocked Rastafarian, better known as "NJ Weedman," who ran unsuccessfully for New Jersey governor and U.S. and state representative on the Marijuana Party ticket, was released from the Burlington County jail on Tuesday after posting $50,000 bail on drug possession and distribution charges.

He did not intend to be arrested, said Forchion, 45. "But now that I've been charged, it feels like destiny. That's exactly what I wanted to do."

Forchion, who moved from Browns Mills two years ago to open a medical-marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles called the Liberty Bell Temple, said he returned to South Jersey last week "to spend a little time in the courts."

Forchion has been a vocal critic of the New Jersey law, passed in January, that legalized marijuana use by patients with cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and other debilitating diseases.

"I was coming home on a mission to file some paperwork and challenge it," Forchion said on Tuesday.

The criminal statute in New Jersey states that marijuana has no medicinal value. The new measure does recognize a medical use for the drug, but only gives "a certain class of people" permission to use it, he said.

Forchion said the new law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

His arrest gives him the opportunity to take his stand to the New Jersey courts, he said.

"I'm going to fight," Forchion said, acknowledging that he could be sentenced to seven years in prison if convicted. "I'm not afraid to go to jail. I think I can win."

Forchion was driving a rented 2001 Pontiac Grand Am Thursday after 10 p.m. when he pulled up to a stop light on Route 38. He said he had been visiting his children in Burlington County and was headed to Camden County, where he planned to stay with other relatives.

A trooper who pulled alongside Forchion said the Pontiac rolled into the intersection before the light turned green, said Sgt. Steve Jones, a state police spokesman.

After stopping the Pontiac, the officer smelled burned marijuana and saw a glass smoking pipe on the rear floor. Forchion says the pound of marijuana troopers found in a suitcase was for personal use. He denied he had any intention of selling it.

"A pound of marijuana is like a carton of cigarettes to me. What do they think I was going to do? Sell nickel bags on the corner?" he scoffed. "I'm the Weedman."


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URL - NJweedman busted in Jersey

Self-proclaimed weedman and activist Ed Forchion takes on New Jersey about the legalizing marijuana after he was arrested for transporting a pound of weed in his car.

Forchion, who is also known as the NJWeedman, was arrested on April 1 (April Fools Day) after police discovered a pound of California-Kush in his trunk. The discovery came after Forchion was stopped by a state trooper for failing to stop at a red light.

"[I didn't plan on getting arrested for weed possision]," Forchion stated in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. “But now that I've been charged, it feels like destiny. That's exactly what I wanted to do."

Forchion, who has been distributing and selling medicinal marijuana in Los Angeles, California for two-years and even owns a medical marijuana dispensary, stated that ironically he was visiting his home state to file paperwork against the New Jersey bill that legalized marijuana for medicinal use in AIDS, glaucoma and cancer patients only.

"The state should not be able to have two legal descriptions of the same substance," Forchion states. "How can the state be allowed to have it both ways arresting some people on criminal laws that state marijuana has no medical value while also allowing others to use marijuana for medical use? Isn't that a violation of the 14th amendment right to equal protection of the law," cites Forchion.

Although the arrest is making headlines, this arrest will actually be Forchion's second bid to bring the issue of jury nullification to the forefront of the judicial system. A practicing Rastafarian, he faced up to 30 years in prison back in 1997 when he was arrested and charged with conspiracy and possession of over 40 pounds of marijuana.

He acted as his own defense counsel then, with a defense of religion, medical and open advocation of jury nullification. The issue of jury nullification so rattled the courts back then that he was offered a plea bargain, which he took, avoiding a possible lengthy jail sentence. To this date, he regrets that decision. Calling the prosecution's plea offer a bribe, he admits he was lured out of his right to a trial. He envisions this case as another opportunity to bring jury nullification back to the forefront.

Although Forchion does not deny the fact he had one pound of weed in his possession, he is denying the charge that he posses the weed with the intent to sell it.

"A pound of marijuana is like a carton of cigarettes to me. What do they think I was going to do? Sell nickel bags on the corner?" he scoffed. "I'm the Weedman."


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URL -- NJweedman Profiled

MOUNT HOLLY —“NJ Weedman” Ed Forchion said he wishes he hadn’t been driving with a pound of herb in his car on April Fools’ Day. But he’s also charging police with racially profiling him.

Forchion, 45, was arrested at 10:15 p.m. April 1 on several pot possession charges after getting stopped on Route 38 in Mount Holly, according to state police.

Trooper Ken Rayhan pulled Forchion over on the highway near Pine Street on allegations Forchion stopped his his car at a red light and proceeded to drive before the light turned green.

But the routine traffic stop turned into a criminal investigation when the trooper “smelt burnt marijuana coming from the car” and “saw a glass smoking pipe on the rear floor,” said state police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Jones.

Forchion, who sports a dreadlocks hairdo, admits to possessing the pound of weed — “I clearly use marijuana” — but he accuses Rayhan of initiating a “straight profile stop.”

Rayhan has been on the state police force for about six years. He stopped Forchion “for no other reason than he disobeyed traffic laws,” Jones said.

Forchion was driving in the right lane of the highway and stopped his vehicle “basically in the middle of the intersection” upon realizing the traffic light of his lane was red while the left-hand turn signal turned green, Jones said in explaining the motor vehicle stop.

Forchion is a Burlington County native and self-described “weed capitalist” who moved to the West Coast two years ago to open up a medical marijuana dispensary in Hollywood. He has a history of multiple failed bids for elected office in New Jersey, centering his campaigns around legalizing pot for everyone, not just for the “walking dead.”

“I wasn’t even in town 24 hours and the state arrested me,” said Forchion, a father of five. He services patients, including celebrities, with his legal weed joint in California, but “I come to town every other month to visit my kids.”

The author of “Public Enemy No. 420,” a narrative on pot, Forchion said he “made the mistake of not having a hat on” when he was arrested here last week. He said his hat would have concealed his dreads, which he said would have minimized suspicion of wrongdoing.

Weedman said he will fight to get his charges dropped and he said he will also file a lawsuit against the state to overturn the state’s medical marijuana law. Forchion said he believes the law is unconstitutional for allowing terminally ill people to possess marijuana while state criminal law prohibits anyone else from possessing pot.

“The state should not be able to have two legal descriptions of the same substance,” Forchion said. “How can the state be allowed to have it both ways?”

State police said Forchion was driving while suspended in a 1991 Pontiac Grand Prix that was rented in someone else’s name. Police said they found the weed after scouring through the car on a search warrant.

The pot activist was charged with possession of marijuana over 50 grams, possession with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia, failure to obey a traffic signal, driving while suspended and driving with a controlled dangerous substance in a motor vehicle, state police said. Weedman was also jailed on two unrelated warrants: one for $10,000 in unpaid child support and a $350 traffic warrant, state police confirmed. Forchion said he was released Monday after paying the $10,000 child support and posting the 10 percent of his $50,000 bail.

Forchion said the state “opened up a can of worms, because I’m gonna fight. I’m looking forward to my day in court.”


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END THE MARIJUANA WAR THRU - JURY NULLIFICATION

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kitch

I'm not gonna say anything mean about this.

not that I don't want to.

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greenghost

i think he needs to get off and that marijuana shouldn't be a crime at all...lets take this drug off the black market and stop wasting the tax payers money.


on a side note: until this happens if you're going to transport make sure you have everything in tact and are following the bs laws that are in place. njweedman isn't the only one getting nailed for routing traffic stops.

Routine traffic stop leads to huge marijuana bust

Captain Cannabis

good luck dude

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fuck the monkeys