One cannabis trafficking case between California and Maryland is putting a spotlight on the blatant hypocrisy of the justice system when it comes to cannabis-related charges.
According to prosecutors, Jonathan Wall, now 27, and 10 others transported over 1,000 kilograms of cannabis from California to Maryland over a period of two years. Given those amounts, Maryland law defines him as a “drug kingpin.”
A federal grand jury indicted him in 2019. In the case of United States v. Wall, if convicted of “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana,” Wall faces a sentence of up to 10 years to life in federal prison, with a mandatory 10-year sentence hovering over his head.
Today marks Wall’s first appearance in court, as he is confined to a federal supermax prison. The elephant in the room, however, is the fact that cannabis is legal for adult purposes in 18 states and several jurisdictions, and legal for medical reasons in dozens more.
On April 26, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher approved a motion by prosecutors calling for the court to bar any discussion of the cannabis legalization movement currently taking place across the United States, according to Outlaw Report.
In other words, the defense team is not to point out how hypocritical cannabis-related non-violent cases are in 2022, given the changes in law.
Prosecutors from the Justice Department filed the motion weeks ago requesting that the U.S. District Court of Maryland preclude Wall’s defense team “from asking questions, presenting evidence, or making arguments regarding the way the law in other jurisdictions treats marijuana.”
“Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance and under federal law, it is [a] crime to conspire with others