pot? hemp? Court throws human drug trafficking stopped at Tampa Airport

TALLAHASSEE — Pointing to a lack of tests on whether the substance is marijuana or legal hemp, the state court of appeals Wednesday threw out a drug trafficking conviction against a man who was stopped at Tampa International Airport after two duffel bags contained packages of “green, leafy” substances.

The ruling by a three-judicial panel of judges at the Second District Court of Appeals said airport police in 2022 had interfered with the duffel bag after a flight from Denver. Drug sniffing dogs have indicated that the bags may contain drugs, and police found each bag contains 25 vacuum-adhesive packages of green leaf material.

Price Campbell, who claimed the bag, was arrested and ultimately convicted of marijuana trafficking charges, the ruling on Wednesday said. But Campbell said he paid Oregon men $50 for the package and thought they were hemp.

The conviction came after law enforcement analysts tested samples from only one of the 50 packages. The sample weighed 24.47 grams and contained illegal cannabis, the ruling said.

However, attractively, Campbell argued that one sample did not support a drug trafficking conviction. The Court of Appeal agreed, citing that marijuana and legal hemp cannot be distinguished without testing.

“All witnesses who testified for the sake of the nation have admitted that the substance found in Campbell’s duffel bags cannot be identified by appearance or odor alone, simply by whether it is illegal or legal hemp,” said the ruling written by Prime Minister Daniel Sweet, made by Judges Patricia Kelly and Craig Villainty. “The detective handling the K-9 (police dog) testified that he could not identify whether his K-9 contained cannabis in his duffel bag.

The ruling said in the past there was no need to test samples from each package. But that said that the legalization of hemp changed it.

“However, there is currently an identifiable risk between legal and illegal cannabis, so the contents of multiple packages should be considered when proofing the amount of illegal cannabis, so the condition can no longer rely solely on appearance and smell to extend the inference of illegal cannabis,” the ruling said. “Otherwise, in order to allow the nation to rely on the identification of similar packages of green, lush material, the leafy substances, with appearance and smell alone, undermine the defendant’s presumption of innocence and falsely deny the burden on the state, proving the identity and weight of the suspect’s material.”

Campbell was sentenced to three years in prison for a conviction of human trafficking, the sentence said. The panel ordered the circuit judge to reduce Campbell’s conviction to a drug possession charge and resent him.

Jim Sanders, Florida news service