Tallahassee Reports has learned that State Attorney Jack Campbell has notified the Tallahassee Police Department that he will no longer be prosecuting marijuana cases.
In a message obtained by Tallahassee Reports, TPD sent out information that indicated Campbell would cease prosecutions until “such time that a scientifically proven test that can be introduced into evidence can distinguish illegal marijuana from legal hemp.”
The position is the same regardless of the amount of drugs found.
State Attorney Campbell told TR that he is willing to prosecute marijuana cases if a test to distinguish between marijuana and hemp is available.
He said that this can happen if someone admits that they possess marijuana or if a private lab can perform the required testing.
Listed below is a portion of the letter from State Attorney Campbell to “Law Enforcement Partners.” See full letter here.
This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
Jack Campbell to Cease Marijuana Prosecutions added by Steve Stewart on
View all posts by Steve Stewart →
This is a slippery slope for the chief law enforcement officer in Circuit to take, I think it might even be grounds for his removal by the Governor. Law enforcement officer can’t pick and choose which of the law they will enforce and things in the Justice System have a tendency to creep, they grow over time in 34 years of working in the system I have seen things with good intent expand and the original intent is lost. This just does not pass the smell test.
I am on the Southwest Coast of FL. I think any State Attorney who is a FL elected official must live by the law, we can’t select which law we will obey and which ones we will not. I would hate to see the Governor remove Mr. Campbell from office but I think he can for refusing to prosecute a violation of Florida Law.
A more recent issuance from Campbell says a charge will not be pursued even in the presence of an admission by a suspect, Steve. Can you comment/justify/dismiss this most recent decision?
@joewest what exactly do you think their job is as a SA? Just ask Perry, Fl about the SA deciding what they will prosecute. Totally allowing drug dealing and other crimes and a tiny list of things they will prosecute!
Who died, and made you the final Judge of which laws to charge, and which not too? Will murder be next? I am so sick of corrupt politicians in this City! We live in Golden Eagle, I had to fight the former Sheriff for twelve years to have a wealthy neighbors son to be picked up for dealing out of their home! No one, in any part of this City deserves to have to put up with cars coming and going all night, kids, adults causing problems, getting out of their cars early in the morning, behaving like the Charles Manson group. Breaking into homes, cars; get arrested by a lowly paid, hard working Sheriff’s Officer, then by the morning, the spoiled, rich kids father has their sons out of jail again, due their shady lawyers, and crooked Sheriff, and Mayor’s! My husband did not serve in the Military, still works a hundred hours a week, in order for us to feel as unsafe as if we lived in the worst part of Detroit! If you, Mr. Campbell cannot do your sworn duty to the Oath you took to uphold the laws of this State, then the Governor should have you brought up on charges! If he will not do it, I will personally contact Attorney General Barr, and see you disbarred for not upholding all the laws of the State of Florida! Marijuana fried the brain of the young man next door, whose father also overdosed, and the Sheriff had it covered up! Good Sheriff Officers do not want to serve on this , the good side of town, I am being facetious, because their careers would be in jeopardy if they picked up a Certain Judges kid! I can back everything I have said, I had twelve years to gather material! The young man who dealt in Marijuana, started at fifteen, by the time he was twenty one, he came to house to house, begging for wine, or any alcohol, including mine! He told me this wild tale of being in the Military in Iraq, seeing children have their heads cut off, and women being raped! He had never left this neighborhood! Marijuana is not harmless! It is a danger to neighborhoods, it brings violence, and it destroys lives! I finally went over the Sheriff’s head, Pam Bondi’s head, and had something done with this danger to our neighborhood’s children, wives home alone, and anyone who came in contact with the neighbor, and his alcoholic Mother, who was also on drugs! My Mother at the time was so frightened for my life, however, my sense of Righteousness, would never have me afraid of them, nor of you! The children, and women in every neighborhood needs someone who will stand up and say, No! Not in my neighborhood, I refuse to accept the crime being perpetuated under the Sheriff’s very nose, and he knew, because I told him! Crime is crime, we either stand up for law and order, or go the way of California, Detroit, and Baltimore! I refuse to allow it to happen in Tallahassee! Either do your job, or resign!
He was elected to make the decision on what cases can and should be prosecuted. He did not say anything about not charging for marijuana. In fact he said that if you admit that you have marijuana you will be charged and prosecuted. The issue is the ability to determine the difference between legal hemp and illegal marijuana in the field. His office is tasked with prosecuting these cases, and if they can’t determine if the a substance(evidence) is legal or not, then they have to(by law) err on the side of the defendant, and it would be a waste of time and money to try and prosecute a case that they can not win.
Marijuana cannot fry anyone’s brain, that egg in a pan was a marketing gimmick.
It’s a safer than drinking alcohol, doesn’t kill your liver, pickle your brain.
It would not be legal for medical patients if it was not safe. I did not say vaping either, that was pushed on patients in this state, but it didn’t go over on those of us that want our medicine natural, not altered. It functions better, you get all the benefits of canabanoids. I have been in Nursing over 20 years, I cam’t Even describe the relief many patients are getting since we passed & voted for legal medical cannabis. Nature naturally heals.
there are a lot more important things for the police to worry about like all of the shootings we have had. Marijuana is good for you; ask the hundreds of thousands that have their card. it helps with pain, sleep, anxiety. Good decision Jack!
A wise decision. There are a lot more important things that need to be investigated in our crime ridden city.
Don’t forget the dogs. When hemp hit the street July 1st, it basically retired every drug detecting police dog in the State. Police K9 are trained to alert on the presence of a variety of scents. They do not alert differently for one (raise the right paw for cocaine, left paw for cannabis) or the other. So new dogs will have to be trained without cannabis detection. Until that happens, a K9 alert is no longer an automatic vehicle search regardless of what drug may be in a car. Add this decision and we got ourselves a free for all – cocaine, meth, PVP, Molly, Flakka, LSD. It’s not like we need help with crime around here. We are already #1 in the State.
Gillum is toast; as are about 20 other City – (and former City employees like Fernandez, Shelly, Daniels) folks.
Its a good move for him and the state cause they know if they spend all that money to go to trial they will lose at this time. It be a waste of money and resources in there eyes if they can’t convict.
I am sure this was a joint decision with the Usual Suspects.
Speaking of, Maddox & Carter-Smith have flipped and will be PLEADING GUILTY:
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/07/31/tallahassee-commission-colleagues-hope-scott-maddox-plea-lets-city-move/1876864001/
So what kind of deal will ghey get? Most importantly, ARE THEY ROLLING GILLUM?
Good news! Ready SET prison….brazen amateurs
Any chance this flip flop has to do w/ the halt on Washington Square? The TD seems to have quickly forgotten all about the CRA support on that one. Either way, things are about to get real interesting.
Seriously – What will it take for RACKETEERING – as in RICO – to be filed and prosecuted against the criminal extortion MOB called the City of Tallahassee? Aren’t we already there?
Would like to read about the dispensary and grow house being built on Hwy 27 South, just east of the Waukeenah intersection (where the new Dollar Store is being built.) The pot cultivation location is owned by Halsey Beshears’ family, from what I’ve read..
Guessing that soon you’ll be able to get your pot, and then drive a mile down and get your munchies.
That is interesting. That’s in the zone of where the extension of the Suncoast Parkway is expected to go.
There is no one more pro marijuana than me….ok maybe John Morgan, but having a State attorney decide which laws will be enforced and which ones won’t is a very dangerous precedent to set. I know many younger people may not be familiar with this whole, Legislative, Judicial and Executive branches of Government thingie but there was a very good reason our Forefathers went to the trouble to set things up that way. Checks and balances and I’m not referring to the amount of money left on your debit card. Bad idea Jack, real bad idea, but I’m sure it will get you votes and that’s probably the real reason behind this. I can assure you you’ve lost my vote with this kind of action.
He said he would charge for marijuana possession….. just as soon as there is a reliable field test for it. He’s only saying that if he can’t test, he can’t prove it is marijuana , and can’t take it to trial.
It’s not about what laws WILL be enforced, but what laws CAN be enforced. He can’t effectively prosecute on bad evidence(that can’t be tested properly). Once he can effectively prosecute, he will.