While smoking pot isn’t the crime it used to be, most users still try to avoid toking in front of the cops. However, police in Montgomery County, Maryland, threw a pot party.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the “green lab” event was to help train officers to recognize the signs of being under the influence of cannabis, and 10 volunteers were apparently happy to help.
While the police didn’t supply the goods themselves, they gave the volunteers $60 to spend as they wished on smokeables, edibles and whatever other green-based products they preferred.
The subjects were allowed to use in a tent outside, as doing so inside a county building is still illegal. Afterward they were put through a series of field sobriety tests and were observed so that cops know what to look for in the field.
A driving simulator was also used to show the users they shouldn’t be behind the wheel after blazing up.
The midday tokers were also offered rides home, though one apparently chose to be dropped off at a bar.
The second annual “green lab” event went much more smoothly than the first one, the paper notes, in which the sight of cops in uniform apparently spooked one of the smokers. “She was in tears within seconds and went and locked herself in a bathroom stall. It took a few minutes to get her out,” noted Officer Jayme Derbyshire, who coordinates Montgomery County’s green lab program.