Chris Gollon
PALM COAST – The Flagler County Sheriff’s Workplace arrested 30 year-old L Part resident Nathan Soares on Friday after a search warrant led to the invention of 42 kilos of marijuana in his residence. Soares was taken to jail on Friday morning and launched after posting $50,500 bond.
The costs towards Soares have been misdemeanor Possession of Drug Paraphernalia/Tools, and two felonies: Managed Substance Trafficking, and Marijuana Trafficking in Extra of 25 lbs or 300 crops. Every of the 2 felonies amounted for $25,000 in bond individually. Soares has no priors in Flagler County previous to his Friday arrest.
The arrest got here as considerably controversial when the FCSO posted its press launch to social media. Many commenters applauded the Sheriff’s Workplace for busting a Schedule One vendor, whereas others known as it a waste of sources to pursue a drug which is within the strategy of changing into authorized in increasingly more areas. Soares himself pleaded to deputies that he’d solely been promoting marijuana out of the home, an argument which Sheriff Rick Staly rebuffed: “Unlawful narcotics are unlawful it doesn’t matter what they’re.”
Palm Coast is dwelling to a number of dispensaries of legalized hashish merchandise, such a location of Trulieve off Previous Kings Highway; Trulieve sells medical marijuana and CBD to shoppers. It requires solely the possession of a medical marijuana card, which is obtainable from a main care doctor if a qualifying medical situation is current. Nonetheless, as marijuana merchandise develop more and more accessible, the Flagler Sheriff’s Workplace argues that Soares was a obligatory arrest.
“Usually drug sellers appeal to dwelling invaders due to the money and medicines they hold inside a house, which may led to lethal outcomes,” Staly continued. “In addition they destroy the standard of life for his or her neighbors so busting them and placing them out of enterprise will at all times be a precedence for the FCSO it doesn’t matter what they’re promoting.”
Along with the 42 kilos of marijuana, Soares was additionally discovered with 5.5 kilos of THC edibles, round 148 grams of THC oil, and tools like scales and baggage. Particular Investigations deputies seized over $23,000 money from Soares.
As proven within the hooked up graphic, leisure marijuana is legalized in 18 states, together with three territories. Promoting marijuana in these states normally requires acquiring a license to take action. Florida has lengthy been a state which is anticipated to be pivoting in direction of full legalization, however as of 2022 solely medical use is permitted. The FCSO’s arrest of Soares was legally justified, however the dichotomy of various states’ angle towards leisure marijuana possession and sale is stark in circumstances like these.
