A 19-year-old Round Rock, Texas native might get five years to life in prison for allegedly baking pot brownies and selling them. Jacob Lavoro has been charged with a first degree felony because of switching the base ingredient, which is marijuana, to hash oil. The switch allowed the state to weight the brownies as a whole, which include the pastry's other ingredients like sugar, cocoa, butter to calculate the weight of the drugs, Yahoo News said.
Yahoo News noted that Hash oil is classified as a "Penalty 2" controlled substance under state law. The substance contains a higher concentration of THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the active ingredient in marijuana.
Police allegedly found 660 grams or 1.45 pounds of baked goods along with 16 ounces of pot and cash worth $1,675 during a search in Lavaro's apartment. Lavoro was arrested on April 15 and subsequently charged with marijuana possession, illegal hash oil possession and the sale of hash-infused cookies and brownies. Lavoro was reportedly held in Williamson County Jail until May 7, when he posted a $30,000 bond. He is expected to appear in court on June 19.
When the accused's father, Joe, knew about the possibility of his son spending life behind bars for the hash brownie recipe, he called it "outrageous."
"Five years to life? I'm sorry, I'm a law abiding citizen. I'm a conservative. I love my country. I'm a Vietnam veteran, but I'll be damned. This is illogical. I'm really upset, and I'm frightened, I'm frightened for my son," he said.
The teenager's attorney, Jack Holmes, told KHON-TV, "I've been doing this 22 years as a lawyer and I've got 10 years as a police officer and I've never seen anything like this before. They've weighed baked goods in this case. It ought to be a misdemeanor."
Pot advocates called the charges crazy. Legal counsel Jamie Spencer for NORML's Texas chapter said, "That's higher than the punishment range for sexual assault, higher than the punishment range for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. "This case is the perfect example of the insanity of Texas' drug laws. Especially when it comes to marijuana or anything where the active ingredient is THC."
