Since the recession hit, there were no jobs to obtain with my current degree. I decided to sell pot to get some school for cash.

Some people argue that I should work hard and go to school and not sell drugs. Have you ever worked 90 hours a week? Have you done 50+ hours of labor a week and go to school full time and still not have enough money to pay for school? Especially when obtaining my undergraduate degree put me in $20,000 debt.
I am half way done with my masters thanks to selling weed. Also kids under me who have made mistakes in the past were following the right track to succeed in life before I got arrested. No one I dealt with had any intentions of hurting anyone. My main runner just wanted to stack up cash to support his baby which he had when he was 18. One day I was happily coming back from the school library after I found out I made an A in my Organizational behavior test (oh this was the first semester EVER in which was able to afford not to work and pursue school full time….thanks to weed) an undercover cop pushed me to the ground, pointed his gun in my face and gave me a search warrant. I pleaded them not to make a scene to my neighbors and I cooperate with them. All the cops made a scene as they all laughed at me… Now all my neighbors think I am some Juvenile who has nothing better to do with his life. Now they’re sort of right. My degree matters no more because I have a felony…I am in fear of getting deported from the ONLY COUTNRY that I ever knew (USA). Only thing I have to look forward to are my classes hoping marijuana will be legalized and I will actually be seen as a hero who took care of everyone under me and around me with the profits arose from marijuana. I owned a gun (until the cops took it), but that gun wasn’t to hurt anyone. My friend and I go to the shooting range often. The officers looked at me like an animal and tried to seize everything I worked for…and they were successful…they also tried to take my runner’s baby away who was staying with me….They accused us of putting the baby under the influence. All the pipes were in the garage. Since the baby was born, we never smoked a cigarette or weed in the house. They just tore my house apart. I would take pictures and post them but they took my iphone too…
Although I got arrested and got everyone taken away…. marijuana got me the dignity to keep my head up high from the education she helped me obtain. My mom couldn’t help me….my dad couldn’t help me….It seems the only one willing to lend a hand was Mary Jane.
As soon as I get up….I would hit the pipe….then the gym for an hour and half….then study rest of the day….I don’t understand this negative vibe people put on us about being lazy and causing trouble….All the people I dealt with started avoiding trouble when they started smoking (until the cops interfered) I made many lifelong friends smoking marijuana together…Please…I’m begging the people of California….vote to legalize pot…and let the freedom flow to Texas where I reside….Thank you..
My friends were sitting at my home with a lot of money ready to purchase. They took $40,000 cash from my runners. They should have cussed me out and called me stupid. But they did not care about the money at all but rather just my well being. Thanks to marijuana I have found true friends that will never turn their back on me…Not even for a great deal of money. My dealer who brought me 24lbs that day was a good person. He goes to full time school and was just about to move out. His bro was the nicest guy I met too shipping the stuff from California. They offered me a place to stay if I ever came that way. I am so sorry that I didn’t get a new number resulting in a phone tap…..I only meant to do good…..we may have gotten robbed but never ROBBED OTHERS….Please legalize marijuana so I have a chance of getting my life back as well as the nice people that were involved with me…We all had a close bond helping each other make money….And then maybe people would see me as a hero that provided rather than a convict that lost everything…I am not saying legalize drugs that makes people cracked out and steal from others just pot…

[Editor's note: There is nothing 'liberal' about caging your fellow humans for offenses that should not be crimes in the first place. You're a fool to want anyone in your city's criminal justice system for cannabis-only related charges.

Why would anyone favor wasting tax money on the clearly ineffective criminal justice systems regarding cannabis when there are roads to pave, library books to purchase and weapons needed by military personnel?]

[Editor's note: The next time you want to publicly pronounce yourself to be a racist, you might want to have a dictionary handy so that you're not tipping off every one that you're ignorant too.]

[Editor's note: What your personal experience is regarding who you perceive to use cannabis, or whether or not you've been surveyed in a country of 300 million is irrelevant. Since 1975, the federal surveys have clearly indicated a large statistical difference between whites and blacks' use of cannabis, yet blacks are arrested at higher rates across the country, in some parts of the country (like New York City) at astronomically different rates.

Despite Cosby's lament, are his kids any different regarding cannabis use? No. The real jeopardy in the American criminal justice system over and beyond race as determining factors for getting busted are age, gender and class: Males between the ages of 15 and 30-years-old make up almost 75% of all cannabis-related arrests; no money for legal representation, equates no little to no 'justice'.

But, the data is clear, the American criminal justice system arrests, prosecutes and notably incarcerates blacks at disproportionately higher rates then whites for cannabis--even though they use less cannabis.

Re other races and gender, the numbers of arrests largely comport with the percentage of cannabis users from a given subset, i.e., women use cannabis at lower rates and subsequently get arrested in lower numbers. Same thing with Asian and Indian Americans: low cannabis use reports equate to low arrest numbers.

But, not if the user is African American.

You may or not be a racist, but if you can't accept the well established social science and statistical data, you're certainly ignorant.]

“In Arlington County, as in any predominately white enclave a black before the courts is likely to be the recipient of justice compromised.”

You start with that terribly opinionated sentence?!

With the same argument, Blacks can no longer judge white people effectively on courts either, let’s just separate everyone. I guess segregation was a good idea after all?

[Editor's note: The truth hurts, and the statistics are clear: Blacks are arrested at higher rates than whites, despite using cannabis less. Why shouldn't the father of a black child targeted by the criminal justice system have an opinion about why the system is unfair. Wouldn't you? If you didn't, you'd be an uncaring and uninspired parent.]

[Editor's note: So Joshua is supposed to 'man up' but you think his crime to be trivial? If his 'crime' is trivial, why should the taxpayer's pay for his multi-year incarceration? You need to be more consistent in your thinking, especially if you want people to believe you as a reform-minded politician.]

[Editor's note: In VA, like many states, the weight of the cannabis triggers a charge of sales, even if there is no proof of such. Facing more than 4 years in prison a plea bargain was arrived at, not a conviction for sales. There are no appeals on plea bargains.

If you support the taxpayers paying $25,000-$35,000 a year to place Joshua in prison for being CHARGED by police for sales, and to likely pay child support to the son he will not parent until he is nearly four years old, you're being oddly vindictive, especially if you fancy yourself a 'reformer', as well as short-sighted.

Cannabis law reformers need to get with the obvious concept of not favoring at all incarcerating non-violent criminal offenders, most especially if the 'criminal' offense is anything involving the use/sales/cultivation of cannabis among consenting, responsible adults--whether the accused has one joint, one ounce, one pound or one ton.]