this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 117 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Ok, real talk: is that actually legal? It's definitely fraud, but can you fraudulently sell illegal substances?

[–] [email protected] 135 points 1 year ago (4 children)

No, this is definitely illegal in the US. You will likely get multiple charges for fraud, intent to sell narcotics, and if anyone gets harmed attempted manslaughter (some people are allergic to oregano, a lot of stuff that looks like cocaine is deadlier than cocaine). If your customers aren’t dumb kids the retaliation could be worse than the cops too.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Fraud I get, but intent to sell narcotics is ridiculous. You never had the intent, that's why you're selling oregano. And manslaughter? WTF. Battery at best, manslaughter only if someone actually dies. The US legal system is so damn punitive.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

If someone was actually allergic to oregano, and smoked it, they would be in a bad way.

If they vomited and aspirated while having breathing trouble from their allergy, or experience any other type of complication while they are in respiratory distress you are totally on the hook for what happens to them.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

They can reasonably make a case to charge you. That doesn't mean the charges will stick or hold up in court.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Of more concern is the snitches in the school. This kid needs to clean house, teach them the find out phase.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Clickedy clack, brahp brahp!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

attempted manslaughter

Given that manslaughter is accidental killing I don't believe you're really a lawyer

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago

Thank you for linking this. I'll be honest, I read most of it pretty skeptically thinking it was a silly law, but as a harm reduction for people OD'ing on a substances they have been misled about and doctors being able to accurately treat patients, this actually makes a lot of sense. Ty for the context. ♥

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think it's probably illegal to sell anything, especially food, without being registered with the required services like the IRS or the FDA.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

This could fall under the same regulation as a lemonade stand or fundraising cake sales.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Definitely if you're selling [not-food] a and claiming it's [food]. But I don't necessarily think there's anything that prevents you from selling something that you say is not safe to eat, despite it actually being safe to eat. Companies do that all the time where they'll say their product is not safe for x even though it is, jsut to avoid liability.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I doubt that laws on false advertising have any exception for things that are already illegal, so yes it's likely illegal to advertise oregano as weed.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you just used slang I doubt there would be any way to make a case, besides not like you give receipts.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Courts and police don’t have much tolerance for that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Maybe, but what prosecutor would pursue that? Hard to prove beyond reasonable doubt if all you have is a bag of oregano and the testimony of a few children that faked being high. Not a great use of time, and all for one 17 year old kid

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Are you familiar with the United States? It doesn’t sound like it. In many towns, whether small cities, affluent suburbs or large cities, police, DAs and courts seemingly have nothing better to do. In the high school I attended in suburban New England they absolutely would have prosecuted a teenager who tried selling imitation drugs. I knew people who were targeted by police for years and eventually went through all sorts of police and court processes for less than 2 grams of weed.

The only way they wouldn’t have is if the family had enough money to get great lawyers, or they were related to someone who worked for the local government or school.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

All that the OOP asked was if it was legal, not if it would actually be prosecuted. You're right that there's no way anon would end up in jail for this but it's not legal either.

[–] [email protected] 97 points 1 year ago (3 children)

they can't do anything

I know all greentexts are fake but this gave it away for me. Schools will 100% suspend you for what anon did, even if it's not actual drugs it's still drug paraphernalia (if this doesn't stick it can be filed under the "causing a distraction" clause).

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

I imagined it as them just having heard rumors of what anon did and possession of actual drugs would have been their only evidence...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Also, selling people fake drugs is fraud.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You have to tell them if the drugs you are selling them are fake. It's the law.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

If you are a real drug you have to tell me!

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

None of the students are going to admit they tried to buy drugs

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

one of them must have, how else did OP end up in the office with the cops?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Teacher finds bag, is as naiive as the kid, assumes weed and asks where did you get this? Kid drops the name, teacher calls cops thinking (but in no way verifying) they've found a dealer. OP has conversation with cops, kid catches wind of it and realises it's better to run with "yeah it's for cooking" than "I was trying to buy drugs and got ripped off".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

kid drops the name

They find the bag in your backpack

That's enough to charge right there

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yep - leading to the kind of embarrassment in the original post.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Well the cops can't do anything, who cares if you get suspended in HS that's just a vacation. This is obviously fake but that isn't what gave it away lol

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Lmao, the cops can arrest you for no reason. In this case "suspected of selling drugs" is probable cause. I'm pretty sure selling fake drugs is illegal, anyway.

There were a few kids arrested when I was in high school. The cops didn't ask shit. They just showed up, arrested them, and left.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

https://www.rpfoley.com/selling-fake-controlled-substances-florida-statute-817-563.html

Here's at least one state where misrepresenting something as a controlled substance then selling it is punishable even what was actually sold is unregulated

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Weird thing to lie about.

No one, including members of uncontacted tribes in the Amazon rainforest, would think that of oregano was weed.

Anon is an unconvincing lying liar.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When I was 16 I was a little shit. Went to a school where there were loads of posh, upper-middle class kids who desperately wanted to try weed but had absolutely no way to get it. My friend and I sold them so much random shit that wasn't weed. Once we scraped this outer layer of soft, brown matter off a wooden park bench that had been in the rain, rolled it into a ball and said it was hash. We got expelled, but not because of that - just because we were idiots.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah shit - now you've got me wondering... What is that soft brown stuff? Decaying wood? Some type of mold/mildew?

I vividly remember that stuff from when I was younger, but haven't thought about it in forever.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds like Dog Slime Mould - Which is actually a bacterium rather than a mould despite its name.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah I had a kid do this growing up and no one bought it AND he got kicked out of the school for trying to deal drugs even though they were fake.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Had a kid almost kicked out of my middle school for faking something similar.

During lunch one day, he crushed some sugar packets on an Oreo before giving it to another kid. Then jokingly told the kid he gave him a crushed up Ritalin covered Oreo. They all knew it was a joke since he crushed the sugar packet in front of him, but the kid hated the other guy so he told a teacher.

I think criminal charges were charged against him. The kid had to go get his stomach pumped in the chance it was actually Ritalin.

The other kid had gone to a disciplinary school for a full year before being allowed back for his 8th grade year.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Mix it with tobacco and plenty of idiots will take it and smoke it

Source: seeing lots of dumb pranks in my teenager years

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is just an episode from the Office

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

And orange is the new black.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
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