In the ‘You can’t make this up’ category, three players from Chipola (FL) College were arrested Thursday and charged with tampering with evidence after they ate marijuana upon being stopped by the Marianna (FL) Police Department.
The three players are Florida State commit Cinmeon Bowers; uncommitted sophomore guard Torian Graham, who was being recruited by Missouri, Memphis Kentucky and others; and freshman guard Jamaar McKay-Taylor.
All three have been suspended indefinitely from the team, sources confirmed to SNY.tv.
JCFloridan.com had this account of the arrest:
According to the Marianna Police Department, at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 16, officers conducted a traffic stop on a 2010 black KIA passenger car for a speeding violation. Upon making contact with the driver, officers could smell the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.
An agency press release indicates that, upon further investigation, MPD learned that the three passengers in the vehicle — Cinmeon Bowers, 20, of Racine, Wis.; Jamaar McKay-Taylor, 19, of Milwaukee, Wis.; and Torian Graham, 20, of Hillsborough, N.C. — had eaten the marijuana in an attempt to conceal it from officers.
All three were charged with tampering with evidence and taken to the Jackson County Correctional Facility to await their first appearance in court.
Without the trio this past Saturday, Chipola defeated Northwest Florida State College, 86-78, the No. 7 team in the NJCAA poll. UConn signee Sam Cassell Jr. led the way with 25 points, Stephen F. Austin signee Demetrious Floyd scored 23 points and Minnesota signee Carlos Morris added 16 points. Chipola hosts Pensacola State College Wednesday night at home and will continue to play with only nine active players.
These guys aren’t the first athletes who attempted to eat weed in an attempt to avoid getting busted.
Detroit Lions running back Mikel Leshoure, baseball player Elijah Dukes and basketball player Samaki Walker all tried it as well, as Deadspin reported.
Deadspin quotes Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), as saying that cops will leave people alone if they successfully munch less than a half gram of weed and do so while it’s in a self-contained unit like a joint.
Any more than that, St. Pierre tells me, and it’ll be like trying to talk with your mouth full of saltines. You don’t have to worry about getting high from half a gram, either. If the pot isn’t heated or compressed, said St. Pierre, “there should be little or no psychoactive effects.”
It’s unclear how much weed the Chipola players tried to eat.
