In recent weeks we have been paying close attention to the story of Matt Qualls, a man from Alabama who was arrested in a police raid just 4 days after he made a statement to the local media about how the county sheriff was pocketing money from the food fund for the town’s jail.
Qualls was arrested at a friend’s house while they were making cannabis butter. The police say that a neighbor called in an anonymous tip, and the timing was merely a coincidence, but police also carried out searches at multiple other addresses that were connected to Qualls, which seems excessive in a case that would otherwise be trivial.
Even though there was just a small amount of cannabis found at the scene, the Etowah County Sheriff’s office wanted to charge him with trafficking, since the weight of the butter was over 2 pounds, even though most of that weight came from the butter, not the cannabis.
Phil Sims, deputy commander of the Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit, told AL.com that the department was bringing additional charges against Qualls, and was considering the mound of butter to be 1,042 grams or just under 2.3 pounds of cannabis. “Once that marijuana was mixed with the butter then the whole butter becomes marijuana, and that’s what we weighed,” Sims said.
News of Qualls arrest spread fast, and quickly spread through Reddit and alternative news sites like The Mind Unleashed. When the story went viral, readers around the world began emailing and calling the sheriff’s office demanding the young man’s release. Just a few days later they dropped the most serious charges against him, and sentenced him to drug court, a more severe form of probation.
The trafficking charges, which were ultimately thrown out, carried a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison. Some people have even been given life sentences for marijuana trafficking in the state of Alabama. “Matthew Qualls was released from the Etowah County Detention Center on Friday. The Etowah County Sheriff’s Office does not have information concerning any court actions concerning Mr. Qualls. You will need to contact the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office or his attorney,”
Natalie Barton, a spokeswoman for the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Qualls’ attorney, Sam Bone told AL.com that “If Mr. Qualls successfully completes the drug court program, his charges will be dismissed. In addition, if his charges are dismissed, he will be eligible to apply for an expungement of the entire criminal record of arrest and the criminal charges.”
There is still an ongoing lawsuit against dozens of Sheriffs throughout the state of Alabama, relating to the theft of funds from prison food budgets.
The Southern Center for Human Rights and the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice have been investigating this issue and were forced to file a lawsuit to gain access to the financial records of prisons and police departments throughout the state. The organizations sued 49 Alabama county sheriffs over their “refusal to produce public records showing whether, and if so by how much, they have personally profited from funds allocated for feeding people in their jails,” according to a statement they released last month.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:
My name is John Vibes and I am an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. I write for numerous alternative media websites, including The Free Thought Project 
I just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through my experience, if you wish to contribute to my medical bills, consider subscribing to my podcast on Patreon.
Or donate via:
Bitcoin: 35ZJyqPZqJi7tTCKtMddtnKaGDBnhLEaez
Ethereum: 0xbda87e26ed90e260ed6c101f57a409ce3c90c116
DASH: XyE2YME982TXHcQo6HZYyWr37R1pnBC3iT
