Caught With Pot? Some Idaho Cities More Strict Than Others

If you use marijuana in the State of Idaho, you are breaking the law.  If you happen to be caught, some cities will come down on you much harder than others.  Here's what you need to know. 

I was looking through my news feed this weekend and came upon a story from the Idaho Statesman that immediately grabbed my interest.  The headline teased that if you are caught with weed in Meridian, you would be twice as likely to end up in jail than if you were busted in Boise.

There are levels of complexity to the story and the reporting from the Statesman, but they did a deep dive on the bookings into custody from the various departments they were looking into, and found some patterns and general "rules."

During the seven month period examoined, there were 65 people booked into the Ada County jail for marijuana use and/or paraphernalia.  Of those 65, 38 were arrested by Meridian Police, 16 Boise, The Ada County Sheriff had 8, and Eagle Police two.

Perhaps the most interesting thing was what led to charges being filed.  Many arrests came as a result of people driving vehicles or overtly violating traffic laws.  Another was being caught in the act of smoking - the example given was sitting in a parking lot and being interrupted.

So what makes Meridian Police so much more likely to arrest?  The Statesman says it's "the little things."  The department seems to take the hardest line on enforcement compared to other agencies.  The article goes into depth on what each agency states as their criteria.

For more, check out the Statesman's article.