By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
A Utah Highway Patrol Trooper stopped a speeding car and found a cache of marijuana with a street value of $26,400.
The stop occurred on Interstate 15 at 8.07 a.m.
“UHP Trooper Dustin Livingston stopped a speeding vehicle,” said Hoby Metz, UHP Sgt. “It was a rental car.”
He said that reasonable suspicion led to a consent search and 26.4 pounds. of marijuana was found in a spare tire.
“The vehicle was northbound on the freeway and was stopped near mile marker 219,” said Metz.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency puts a $1,000 price tag on one pound of marijuana.
The value of marijuana given in police reports is determined by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, which tracks the price and quantity of drugs confiscated by police nationwide.
If enough people buy from a dealer, one pound can be sold in a day.
It is this aspect that leads to drug-dealing. Most Americans don’t make $1,000 dollars a day at a legal job.
On the other hand, any conviction for marijuana possession, trafficking or sale results in a six-month drivers license suspension and hefty fines and prison time.
Just a possession charge of amounts of one pound up to 100 pounds is considered a felony and carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. The fine and charges increase for trafficking.
Drug distribution/trafficking laws are more severe and penalize the transportation in the United States of unlawful controlled substances such as marijuana.
The average prison sentence of a first-offense drug trafficking convict is three years, which is higher than those of most violent criminals, and the majority of drug trafficking convicts serve at least 80 percent of their sentences, while the average for violent offenders is only 50 percent.
Drug distribution/trafficking laws can implicate a single individual or a broad ring of people involved in organized illegal drug activity.
“The suspect was arrested and taken to Juab County Jail,” said Metz. “The suspect’s name is being withheld pending further investigation.”
