Marijuana smuggler dies after 40 years on the run

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Crime does not pay, unless you are good at it.

Looking at today’s jail population, it’s hard to believe that in the 1970s the maximum sentence for possessing tractor-trailer loads of marijuana was five years in prison.

Now, it’s possible to get life for selling $20 worth of weed.

It wasn’t always this way.

In 1974, marijuana smuggler and alleged fisherman Raymond Grady Stansel Jr. was indicted in Florida after being caught with 9 tons of leafy green on the Steinhatchee River in Dixie County. Nine tons of marijuana sounds like a lot, but that was only half of what Stansel, then 37, was helping drug dealers move to big cities in the U.S. when he was arrested.

The man described as a “pirate” and a “soldier of fortune” could also have been described as “very wealthy.” He has $25,000 in cash on him when arrested, receipts for Rolex...

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URL: 
http://newstome.blog.ajc.com/2015/06/24/marijuana-smuggler-dies-after-40-years-on-the-run/