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<p>In recent weeks we have been paying close attention to <a href="https://themindunleashed.com/2018/02/man-arrested-days-told-media-local-sheriffs-corruption.html">the story of Matt Qualls</a>, &nbsp;a man from Alabama who was arrested in a police raid just 4 days after &nbsp;he made a statement to the local media about how the county sheriff was &nbsp;pocketing money from the food fund for the town’s jail.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Qualls was arrested at a friend’s house while they were making &nbsp;cannabis butter. The police say that a neighbor called in an anonymous &nbsp;tip, and the timing was merely a coincidence, but police also carried &nbsp;out searches at multiple other addresses that were connected to Qualls, &nbsp;which seems excessive in a case that would otherwise be trivial.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Even &nbsp;though there was just a small amount of cannabis found at the scene, the &nbsp;Etowah County Sheriff’s office wanted to charge him with trafficking, &nbsp;since the weight of the butter was over 2 pounds, even though most of &nbsp;that weight came from the butter, not the cannabis.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Phil Sims, deputy commander of the Etowah County Drug Enforcement &nbsp;Unit, told AL.com that the department was bringing additional charges &nbsp;against Qualls, and was considering the mound of butter to be 1,042 &nbsp;grams or just under 2.3 pounds of cannabis. <em>“Once that marijuana was mixed with the butter then the whole butter becomes marijuana, and that’s what we weighed,”</em> Sims said.</p>
<p>News of Qualls arrest spread fast, and quickly spread through Reddit &nbsp;and alternative news sites like The Mind Unleashed. When the story went &nbsp;viral, readers around the world began emailing and calling the sheriff’s &nbsp;office demanding the young man’s release. Just a few days later they &nbsp;dropped the most serious charges against him, and sentenced him to drug &nbsp;court, a more severe form of probation.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The trafficking charges, which &nbsp;were ultimately thrown out, carried a mandatory minimum sentence of &nbsp;three years in prison. Some people have even been given life sentences &nbsp;for marijuana trafficking in the state of Alabama. <em>“Matthew Qualls was released from the Etowah County Detention &nbsp;Center on Friday. The Etowah County Sheriff’s Office does not have &nbsp;information concerning any court actions concerning Mr. Qualls. You will &nbsp;need to contact the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office or his &nbsp;attorney,</em>”&nbsp;</p>
<p>Natalie Barton, a spokeswoman for the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Qualls’ attorney, Sam Bone told <a href="http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2018/03/man_arrested_after_criticizing.html">AL.com</a> that <em>“If &nbsp;Mr. Qualls successfully completes the drug court program, his charges &nbsp;will be dismissed. In addition, if his charges are dismissed, he will be &nbsp;eligible to apply for an expungement of the entire criminal record of &nbsp;arrest and the criminal charges.”</em>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There is still an ongoing lawsuit against dozens of Sheriffs &nbsp;throughout the state of Alabama, relating to the theft of funds from &nbsp;prison food budgets.</p>
<p>The Southern Center for Human Rights and the Alabama Appleseed Center &nbsp;for Law and Justice have been investigating this issue and were forced &nbsp;to file a lawsuit to gain access to the financial records of prisons and &nbsp;police departments throughout the state. The organizations<a href="https://themindunleashed.com/2018/02/sheriff-took-110000-from-prison-food-fund-49-other-sheriffs-doing-the-same.html"> sued 49 Alabama county sheriffs</a> over their <em>“refusal &nbsp;to produce public records showing whether, and if so by how much, they &nbsp;have personally profited from funds allocated for feeding people in &nbsp;their jails,”</em> according to a statement they released last month.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>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 @tftproject and The Mind Unleashed. In addition to my first book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Timeless-Renaissance-John-Vibes/dp/1518828612">Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance</a>, I have also co-authored three books with Derrick Broze @dbroze : <a href="http://theconsciousresistance.com/reflections-on-anarchy-and-spirituality/"><em>The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality</em></a>, <a href="http://theconsciousresistance.com/finding-freedom-age-confusion/"><em>Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion</em></a> and <a href="http://theconsciousresistance.com/manifesto-of-the-free-humans/"><em>Manifesto of the Free Humans</em></a></p>
<p>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 <a href="https://www.patreon.com/Johnvibes">podcast on Patreon.&nbsp;</a></p>
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