Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska–A young officer stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota unknowingly tested positive for delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and small quantities of delta-9 THC. He was brought in to OSI, they tested his vape with his consent, and let him go on his way. It turns out his nicotine vape had something extra inside; he tested positive four more times but OSI never seized his vape or told him that could have been the problem.
Fast forward two full years, and the same member was facing a general court-martial and 14 years of confinement: for marijuana use, violation of a general order, robbery, and destruction of propery. Pre-trial motion litigation was lengthy (including cross-examining the Staff Judge Advocate, who by the preferring commander’s own words, pressured her into preferring a robbery charge for a dispute with his ex-girlfriend about her filandering).
At the end, we were able to negotiate a plea agreement where he admitted to negligent dereliction of duty for the vape (because truthfully, he never knew its spiked contents) and misdemeanor-level conviction for breaking his ex-girlfriend’s phone (which he had prevously admitted to, taken responsibility for, and reimbursed her) well before the Air Force prosecutors added it to their marijuana case to get a conviction.
The military judge gave the absolute minimum sentence under the plea agreement: no dismissal, no fine, no reprimand, and he even got paid while in confinement. The client now gets to leave the Air Force (a full year after completing his committment, and plans to go to law school).