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"Drug dealer" for possessing electronic scales?

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LAN_403

Conundrum

Sat Feb 24 2007, 06:05PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

Hi.
Seems that someone over here was arrested and charged as a drug dealer. This isn't unusual in itself (the local jackboots are paranoid enough about drugs) but the circumstances are.

It appears that the individual concerned had a set of electronic scales similar to the ones I use for measuring out precise quantities of metals for research purposes.
Seems that these can be listed as "drugs paraphenalia" even without any other evidence such as actual drugs or residues, or other equipment you might associate with their use.

I am seriously worried now, given the penalties involved for even possession are a Â£600 fine and effectively being banned from any gainful employment. As for dealing, 2 years minimum .

Should I abandon all my chemistry research and stick to electronics?

-A
(btw, said individual also had a quantity of cash, because he could not have a bank account for various reasons. This is not uncommon over here)

Myke

Sat Feb 24 2007, 06:34PM

Registered Member #540 Joined: Mon Feb 19 2007, 07:49PM
Location: MIT
Posts: 969

No, if they ask try to convince them that you are not a drug dealer.

stop4stuff

Sat Feb 24 2007, 07:32PM

Registered Member #64 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:25AM
Location: Southampton, UK
Posts: 68

I thought the same thing when i got some pocket electronic scales that are accurate to 1/100th gram... there's been piccies of stuff being weighed on the scales on my website for a cou[le of years... and so far no knocks at the door.

I don't know what it's like where you are Conundrum, but here on the mainland, I've no worries about being done for having drug paraphenalia... they might try ;) but at the end of the day photo evidence is on my PC & website for what my scales are used for.

Sulaiman

Sat Feb 24 2007, 08:13PM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140

Conundrum, provided you get your dealer to weigh stuff out for you
and keep residues away from your engineering scales,
I can't see why you should worry.

Madgyver

Sat Feb 24 2007, 08:20PM

Registered Member #177 Joined: Wed Feb 15 2006, 02:16PM
Location: Munich, Germany
Posts: 214

Besides, if you have one at home or in your lab, that shouldn't be a problem.
Carrying it with you in your waist pocket walking around town might cause trouble.

Besides "minimal quantities" have to be forensicaly proved before you can be punished.

Conundrum

Sat Feb 24 2007, 09:13PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

Yeah, that said someone over here got done for possession, with a quantity "too small to measure". Â£400 fine.

BTW no I don't smoke anything, legal or otherwise. I'm mainly concerned about the Police misinterpreting certain information they might receive and making my life hell for months.

Don't even get me started about information stored on my computer...

-A

"Bother" said Pooh, as he was detained without trial...

Madgyver

Sat Feb 24 2007, 09:17PM

Registered Member #177 Joined: Wed Feb 15 2006, 02:16PM
Location: Munich, Germany
Posts: 214

Conundrum wrote ...

Yeah, that said someone over here got done for possession, with a quantity "too small to measure". Â£400 fine.

Wow, sounds like Nazi-Deutschland to me. I thought here (Bavaria) was the ultimate police state.

GreySoul

Sun Feb 25 2007, 02:43AM

Registered Member #546 Joined: Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:43PM
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 239

dunno about over there. In the US as long lots of things matter...

Where you buy the scale is a big deal. I have 2 digis, one for chemicals and one is a grain scale for reloading ammo. I have the recipts from both and both were bought from legit dealers (a jewelery supplier and a gun shop). If you have a cheap neon pink plastic cased scale with pot leaf stickera on it from the local head shop./... that would be hard to justify.

Also, if goes without saying, but never put _ANYTHING_ directly on the platform of your scale / balance. ALWAYS use a boat, filter paper, tray, etc. Drugs or no drugs, keep that platform clean. Most drug dealers dont take that into consideration, and residue on a scale WILL be a problem.

Also, it seems obvious, but if there's no drugs near the scale, that should weigh heavily (no pun intended) on the debate as to what it is for.

Context is as important as possesion for a scale around here.

-Doug

Bored Chemist

Sun Feb 25 2007, 09:57AM

Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022

I'm just amused by the idea of telling the police here in the UK "It's OK officer, I got it from a gun shop". Over here you may be shot for suspicion of having a gun.

Steve Conner

Sun Feb 25 2007, 12:37PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Even if you do actually have cannabis, the odds of getting busted for it are quite small. The use of soft drugs like cannabis is absolutely endemic, and the police would have to lock up about 10% of the population.

So, if you don't even have any drugs, the odds of getting caught must by definition be even smaller. So I wouldn't worry about it for more than about three milliseconds or so.

In the original case, the police probably had an eye on someone they already believed to be a drug dealer, and when they finally managed to drag him into court, the lawyers for the prosecution would have thrown every piece of dirt they could at him. Of course they would mention the fact that he owned a pair of scales of exactly the kind used for weighing pot.

BTW, 4hv doesn't support the use of illegal drugs. We are a science forum. Think of Einstein sniffing glue or Niels Bohr huffing on a crack pipe. Doesn't seem right, does it?

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