Weighing Marijuana

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Georgia

Hello,

I have a question about the weighing of marijuana. Does the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) have a state wide rule on the procedures of weighing marijuana, or can each individual county have their own rules? And do state laws always overrule the laws of local enforcement?

Perhaps you know the answer to my question: Do police officers, expert marijuana examiners specifically, simply weigh the buds (smokable parts) of the marijuana or the entire plant in a trafficking case? What about just charging with possession and manufacturing of marijuana? Do you include root stocks and leaves, or just the buds of plants?

I have read literature about Georgia law that says everything but the defoliated stalk, what is the legal definition of a defoliated stalk?

One more question, if there was a case in which the "expert marijuana examiner" went ahead and weighed the ENTIRE plant (leaves, stalk, roots, etc.) and submitted it as evidence, could a mistrial be called on behalf of weighing and submitting evidence in a faulty manner? How could this affect the trial court?

If you could provide links to the sites that you are citing from as well as legal cases or legal documents, please do.

I appreciate your help. Thanks.

You know what a stalk is, right? So grab a dictionary, real or virtual, and look up "defoliated".

If you're at trial and you want to dispute the manner in which the drugs in your case have been measured, have your lawyer bring appropriate motions with the court, engage in appropriate cross-examination of the witnesses, and present whatever evidence and witnesses you believe may benefit your case.

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Quoting OCGA § 16-13-21. Definitions

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(16) "Marijuana" means all parts of the plant of the genus Cannabis, whether growing or not, the seeds thereof, the resin extracted from any part of such plant, and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds, or resin; but shall not include samples as described in subparagraph (P) of paragraph (3) of Code Section 16-13-25 and shall not include the completely defoliated mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil, or cake, or the completely sterilized samples of seeds of the plant which are incapable of germination.

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The issue here seems to be that if you had growing plants, they were not "defoliated stalks" - and thus the "all parts" provision applies.

Mr. Knowitall, thank you for your quick response. I would appreciate it if you would help me with a couple more questions.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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The issue here seems to be that if you had growing plants, they were not "defoliated stalks" - and thus the "all parts" provision applies.

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So you are saying that the "all parts" provision applies meaning that they can weigh everything (stalks, leaves, buds, twigs, roots, etc.)?

Quote:

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Quoting OCGA § 16-13-21. Definitions

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(16) "Marijuana" means all parts of the plant of the genus Cannabis, whether growing or not, the seeds thereof, the resin extracted from any part of such plant, and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds, or resin; but shall not include samples as described in subparagraph (P) of paragraph (3) of Code Section 16-13-25 and shall not include the completely defoliated mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil, or cake, or the completely sterilized samples of seeds of the plant which are incapable of germination.

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I am interpreting this as "Marijuana" means seeds, resin, and all other active compounds; however, "Marijuana" does not mean defoliated mature stalks, fibers, oils, and seeds incapable of growing other plants. Is this interpretation correct?

I would also like to let you know that in this case the marijuana was weighed at a post office. I have contacted the post office and received the name of the manufacture of the balances they have. I then contacted the manufacturer and the manufacturer stated that all of their scales weigh in ounces (oz.) and pounds (lbs.). If these procedures from the GBI, here and here , state that all balances weighing marijuana MUST weigh marijuana in GRAMS (g) to the 0.1 grams (g), then what procedure would take place if the substance was weighed wrong? Is there something along the lines of a mistrial for inaccurate unreliable evidence? Reweighing? Please give me law or the name of a motion that this would fall under.

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Quoting GBI Procedure Page (first link)

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1. Balances

The agency must utilize calibrated balances that meet the following requirements:

a. Balances shall be electronic digital analytical balances that read to at least 0.1 g.

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Quoting GBI Website Page (second link)

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The balance must weigh in grams to at least 0.1 gram.

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Also, I cannot seem to find an article, but perhaps you can find one such as this, here , where it states the procedure and/or parts that are weighed. This is obviously for California and not applicable for Georgia, but I was wondering if you knew of a piece such as the previous link that applied to Georgia.

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Quoting California Procedures and Act Definitions(third link)

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(iv) In determining whether an amount of cannabis is or is not in excess of the amounts permitted by this Act, the following shall apply:
(a) only the active amount of the cannabis in an edible cannabis product shall be included.

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Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

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Quoting TheLaw

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So you are saying that the "all parts" provision applies meaning that they can weigh everything (stalks, leaves, buds, twigs, roots, etc.)?

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Exactly. The only thing the "defoliated stalks" applies to is if you had just that (or something made out of them).

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I am interpreting this as "Marijuana" means seeds, resin, and all other active compounds; however, "Marijuana" does not mean defoliated mature stalks, fibers, oils, and seeds incapable of growing other plants. Is this interpretation correct?

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Only if they are by themselves.

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I would also like to let you know that in this case the marijuana was weighed at a post office.

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That woiuld be your best bet. While the whole plant should have been weighed, a postal scale is *NOT* an analyitical balance, and ounces are no where near a tenth of a gram.

Thanks for the response flyingron.

I would also like to ask this question once more since it is an important part of the case.

If the marijuana was not weighed with either the right UNIT (used lbs. or oz. and converted to g. but did not use g. as the procedures call for) OR was not weighed to the correct accuracy (of 0.1 g.) then what could happen? Is this evidence weighed wrong and therefore thrown out? What possibilities can occur?

Thanks everyone. Please keep the responses coming.

Your lawyer can make a motion to exclude the weighing of the MJ from evidence if it was done incorrectly. Fairly amateur mistake to not ensure it was re-weighed using an accepted scale. But thost things happen and you may be able to make use of it to help your case.

It could result in charges being dismissed against you but it is impossible to say without knowing the exact charges you are facing and the evidence against you.

Postal scales are not "analytical balances" and only need to be accurate to an ounce, which is 285 times less accurate than tenths of grams.

Alright guys.

Well, I just spoke to a GBI agent that is a retired marijuana weighing expert. I asked him in what units they weigh marijuana. He says for smaller amounts (under trafficking) it is normally in grams and only accurate to 1 gram; however, if it is over trafficking charges it is normally in pounds and converted to grams and/or ounces to the accuracy of 1 gram or 1 ounce.

Now I'm not a lawyer, I'm a science guy. From the lawyer's point of view the literature says that the scales must be in grams to the .1 gram accuracy which would mean to me that it can't be converted. Now as a science guy, I know that converting from pounds that are not accurate to the .1 pounds can't be accurately converted to the .1 grams since the number of significant figures vary from unit conversions. Either way, it seems to me that this cannot be done legally and justly. This marijuana was also weighed at a post office which do not carry analytical scales as stated above and do not carry scales that weigh in grams (I have contacted the manufacturers of the scales at the post office to figure this out).

Now you guys tell me, if you were a defense attorney, what types of arguments would you make against this? Do you have any case law applicable to the situation? Would you try to make a motion to exclude the marijuana evidence. Can the judge override the literature to say that we assume this many grams are in this many pounds even though the literature says the scales must be in grams to the .1 grams accuracy?

This does involve a trafficking charge.

Thanks for your help everyone.

Odds are if a retired agent said something was common practice, which he inferred, it has probably been tested in court and found to be acceptable.

The person charged should hire an experienced criminal defense attorney to represent them, preferably on with specialization in drug cases. It is unlikely they could get the marijuana itself excluded. Just looking at the OCGA on trafficking, they can still nail the person for it. The only thing that weight appears to affect is the sentence so you might get off lightly.

The OCGA for trafficking of MJ specifically lists the quantity in LBS, not OZ, so it would appear that pounds is the legally accepted unit of measurement for MJ:

(c) Any person who knowingly sells, manufactures, grows, delivers, brings into this state, or has possession of a quantity of marijuana exceeding 10 pounds commits the offense of trafficking in marijuana and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as follows:

(1) If the quantity of marijuana involved is in excess of 10 pounds, but less than 2,000 pounds, the person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and shall pay a fine of $100,000.00;

(2) If the quantity of marijuana involved is 2,000 pounds or more, but less than 10,000 pounds, the person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of seven years and shall pay a fine of $250,000.00; and

(3) If the quantity of marijuana involved is 10,000 pounds or more, the person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and shall pay a fine of $1 million.

You are assuming that there is some magic number that will make the difference between trafficking and non-trafficking?

Whether the substance is for distribution or personal use can be shown by a variety of other factors and not simply by the quantity. I am not familiar with GA law in this regard, but it is entirely possible to be in possession of a personal use amount with the intent to sell it. Greater quantities can, of course, make a distribution case easier to show because you can bring in experts to testify as to typical usage, effective "shelf life" and all manner of statistics and the like.

If you are attempting to argue that the weights could be off by a few grams, be careful ... the state may concede the point and continue on with the case. A few grams are not likely to make much of a difference at all. You are not going to get a dismissal based upon such a minuscule error. Of course, they can always re-weigh the dope using another scale.