A truck driver at the center of a controversial arrest over hauling federally legal hemp has made a deal with prosecutors and will have the felony charges against him dropped. He will still be pleading guilty to a crime and will need to pay thousands of dollars in fines and fees – but it’s still not clear if he did anything wrong.
When truck driver Denis Palamarchuk picked up a load of industrial hemp in Colorado and headed toward Oregon, his cargo was legal. Had he arrived in Oregon, his cargo would have been legal. In fact, according to the federal government, his cargo was legal. But when he entered into Idaho where hemp is classified as an illegal drug, he was arrested and his cargo was seized by police.
Both hemp and marijuana are members of the cannabis family. But unlike marijuana, hemp contains only trace amounts of THC. Marijuana can contain 40% THC, while the hemp Palamarchuk was hauling came back from testing with THC levels of .043% – not nearly enough to get anyone high.
Unfortunately for Palamarchuk and the company, Big Sky Scientific, the state of Idaho considers a substance with any amount of THC to be illegal.
Palamarchuk was arrested, the load of hemp valued at $1.2 million was confiscated, and Palamarchuk was charged with felony trafficking of marijuana. Because of mandatory minimum sentencing, if convicted, he would have served at least five years in prison.
The resulting criminal case sparked outrage amongst truck drivers, trucking companies, hemp producers, and more. Now however, prosecutors and defense attorneys have agreed to a deal which would see the trafficking charges dropped in exchange for a guilty plea to “improperly permitted load, including a faulty bill of lading.”
The misdemeanor will bring a $1,000 fine and Palamarchuk will be responsible for repaying around $4,000 in fees.
Source: truckinginfo, freightwaves, truckersreport
Meanwhile the government let a bunch of armed gangsters loose on our neighborhoods
Yep! And politicians continue to scam out govt out of money to benefit themselves!
Yeah, the irony of it all. One cannot fix stupid.
What a crock of crap!
I hope the company is paying the driver for this blunder.
The laws of COMMON SENSE should always prevail. I level of common law of the land today is that this is just normal trade… Federal Laws are archaic at best. If the load was sealed and not broken… what was the harm to Idaho… who should pay this Driver for all his greif… he did nothing wrong… the load really never
was an issue to Idaho….
I’m sure Idaho “sold” it back for 1.2 million
These dope fiends are always looking for ways to break the law. They take that. 043% THC and “cook” it down to fentanyl and PCP and then they get little Johnny hooked on it. Next thing you know little Johnny has killed Ma and Pa for enough money to get another “fix”
Y’all didn’t whine about this blatant BS propaganda during the Nixon/Reagan War on Brown and Black People, but now you have an opinion about unfair enforcement of unfair laws? Yeah ok. Civil forfeiture is a good thing, right? It hits the dope peddlers where it hurts. 🙄
Fentanyl is a derivative of opium and pcp is synthetic, neither can be produced by marajuana. Uneducated people are making it hard to deal with the issue of marajuana, an uneducated opinion is no opinion at all and it seems only the uneducated voices are being heard. You need to read more on what these different drugs are, marajuana is an unprocessed plant and when it is processed the result is non addictive pain killers and effective treatments for cancer, glaucoma patients. Harvard has called marajuana the most useful plant in the world and as we all know their huge drug dealers.
You’re a true mental giant aren’t you.
👍😂
I read that reply that Marijuana can turn into Fentanyl and realized how poorly schooled we are… Then of course the media is poor at how they define drugs half the time.
Fentanyl is a synthetic derivative of opioids. Tramadol, another synthetic that is commonly prescribed. Now I’m not saying they are exact same strength, no. (tramadol is actually converted by our liver into a pain killer)
Fentanyl is not prescribed unless your in extreme pain, or, well, in that life ending cancer pain.
At the bare minimum, Wikipedia is your best friend.
You hit the nail on the head and beat me to the punch good job!!
Shane, John was obviously being sarcastic. That apparently passed right over your mental giant head.
so correct David.
👌
You have no idea Bout the concept of sarcasm…….do you?
Who’s moronic?
Good come back. It also is the nonsense that marijuana will always lead to use of harder drugs. As George Carlin once stated facetiously, mother’s milk leads to cannabinol.
Dude was joking. Turn on your sarcasm meter.
Regardless of what you say, there was no dope here.
This may be the dumbest comment of the year 😂
Idaho? Is your government run by a bunch of ignorant moralists? Time to get a clue, man.
This is seriously making your whole state look like an idiot. An idiot that cannot admit when it is wrong.
Ignorant moralists sums it up about right.
In answer to your question the answer is yes, that’s exactly who is running this state. Not because the majority of people here want them to be, but because we have little to no say in what the politicians do here..
Drivers, get real. If your dispatcher asks you to haul it, tell him to stuff it. Until it is 100% legal in EVERY state, don’t move it. Your freedom is worth more than his load.
I am right there with everyone about his arrest being wrong. However, as a businessperson, I would not be hauling something that is a KNOWN controversial substance. The driver bears the responsibility for taking the load. He should have politely pointed out that he refused to haul this load. If they fired him, I’m pretty sure he would have a case against them.
All about money all they want at the end of day .all ways tax payers right.in there pocket wouldn’t .do .crazy world drink coffee smoke cigarettes drink liquor kill eachother .america how sweet it is
The guy that wrote the comment on Marijuana being cooked to PCP and then Fentynal was being blatantly sarcastic! Talk about common sense, and improperly schooled!!! MORONS is more like it!
Industrial hemp has been federally legalized to grow. But yet it can’t be transported across state lines. How confusingly moronic.
So…what is the law exactly?
Oh…he must pay the fine, right. For something he thought he was just doing his job legally.
I have a question ..a couple…what about, the corrupts, rappers, trafficking gangs, murders.. much very well known…how much it’s their “”fine””?
Totally agree with you too many know it all out here an don’t have a clue of what they talking about
I just failed a pre-employment and now I’m subjected to Dot sap program to reinstate my commercial license for having 0.36 now I have to do counseling for the next 5 years pay $900 a week for one-on-one classes never go to a sap dot program in South Dakota the guy is registering me in intensive care for THC
How did Idaho know of this load in the first place.? A random pull in. Yeah right…. Smacks of some one that knew of it made a phone call and they knew he was coming. He was just a truck driver doing his job. Now that makes him the bad guy. shameful’..
Looks like the DA was only intrested in a guilty plea of any kind on this case. This is how they climb the political ladder, off the backs of hard working men and women. Good news for the driver but he shouldn’t have to plea or pay any amount.
Ya see how free we are here in America. Not so much. crap like this is what sucks. It’s all about the money. states are broke by spending it on there per projects. this really reeks of corruption. we all do nothing. What a shame.
If he is a company employee the company is responsible,they booked the loadhe simply was doing what his job description calls forif he has his own authority and used a broker then it’s his responsibility states BOL was incorrect,probably can put responsibility on shipper unless he was on the dock and knew what was being loaded
gofundme? I think we should pay his fines so he can get back to it. It shouldn’t take too long for readers to cover his fines.
You should always know what your hauling and if you need certain permits and know the laws along your route. For example some loads you don’t have to placard here but need to if you cross into Canada. So if not sure as Nancy Reagan said JUST SAY NO! Lol
There the ones brought the dope stupid reagans cocaine was un leashed
Sorry about not feeling sorry for driver. That load probably paid a lot of money (or would have if it had been delivered) Could have run across Utah where medicinal is legal then into Nevada and then up into Oregon where it is also legal. Going across Idaho was a bad move. If I was hauling oversize or overweight and broke the rules and got a ticket nobody would say anything in my defense. This is a similar situation. You cannot bring hemp into Idaho. He broke the rules, not the company that loaded the truck. There was a legal route, but he did not take it. Possible that his dispatcher was complicit though. I am curious about how experienced this driver was. Sounds like not very.
You right but .he all he had to say is he was un aware.an shut up that goes to shipping.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says states can’t block the interstate transportation of hemp, but law enforcement in Idaho says it won’t follow those guidelines.
anytime you have a load that is questionable- it is your responsibility to double check. I would also make sure to keep at least 2 hard copies of any feedbac- 1 for any LE a 2nd for when they dont return your hardcopy
This is what we have allowed the libitards and dumbocrats to do to our country. It is shameful and disgraceful for sure.