A man arrested for alleged drug possession reportedly lit a joint in front of a judge Monday in Wilson County, Tennessee.
Twenty-year-old Spencer Alan Boston of Lebanon was standing before General Sessions Judge Haywood Barry to discuss his sentencing when the incident occurred, according to Fox 8.
At the bench, Boston expressed his view marijuana should be legalized, Wilson County Sheriff Robert Bryan told reporters.
The suspect then reportedly pulled a joint out of his pocket, lit it, and began to smoke. When he turned to make a comment to the people sitting in the courtroom, several began to laugh.
However, Boston was immediately led out of the courtroom and charged a second time with simple possession.
He was sentenced to ten days in jail for contempt of court and his bond set at $3,000.
“One of the craziest things I’ve seen,” Sheriff Bryan said of the incident.
Friday, a state Sen. Raumesh Akbari of Memphis filed a bill proposing the legal sale of less than one half an ounce of weed to people aged 21 and older, according to Fox 13.
“More businesses would open, more opportunities for people and it’s key to make sure everyone has an opportunity to get in business if it passes,” Rep. Antonio Parkinson said of the legislation.
Even though Tennessee Highway Patrol data found the number of drug-impaired crashes had increased 89 percent between 2010 and 2015, retired Shelby County Captain Bennie Cobb said he did not think legalization would increase the number of crashes.
“People are doing it anyways and are going to do it anyways,” he stated.
January 14, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), an organization dedicated to ending the “prohibition of cannabis,” urged Tennesseans to support recently proposed medical marijuana laws.
“Tennessee is increasingly lonely as one of the remaining 17 states that criminalizes patients who use a far safer treatment option than opiates,” the website read.