Ohio police raided Afroman’s home on Sunday in search of illegal drugs and ultimately turned up nothing besides a few bowls worth of weed.
Afroman, whose legal name is Joseph Foreman, is a hip-hop artist best known for his 2000 hit “Because I Got High,” a humorous track detailing one man’s absent-mindedness as a result of smoking weed. In 2014, he released the “Positive Remix” of the hit track, which took a more serious tone by focusing on the plant’s medical benefits.
Of course, name any rapper, and they’ve probably mentioned weed at least once in their rhymes.
"Now they get out, weapons — look, the dude [is] aiming at the house. Because I got a vape pen," the 48-year-old Afroman said over the Instagram video.
The weekend drug raid occurred when Afroman and his family were away from home, Newsweek reported. Security video footage from his kitchen shows the police first breaking down the door, then storming the house with SWAT-styled ballistic shields and guns drawn.
"Good thing my kids weren't home," he said. "They finally kicked my door down."
Other posts show the cops turning his home inside out, rummaging through drawers and clothes and otherwise trashing the place. In the end, the raid only turned up a few joints, a vape pen, and some CBD products, Afroman told TMZ.
"They didn't have to run up my driveway with AR-15s and all kinds of assault weapons, I would have gladly just given that to them," he said, referring to the confiscated cannabis products.
Ohio legalized medical cannabis in 2016. That same year, the state also decriminalized “recreational” or “adult-use” cannabis. Possession of less than 100 grams, without a doctor’s approval, can result in a mere fine of $150. Possession of 100 grams to 200 grams can net a $250 fine and up to 30 days in prison.
However, according to Afroman’s statement to TMZ, the police likely didn’t find even close to 100 grams of cannabis at his residence. The average joint only weighs about 0.5 to 1 gram, and most vape cartridges contain similar amounts of oil. As for the hemp and CBD products, those became federally legal in the US in 2018.
"Where [are] the guns? Where is the dope? What if you don't find anything?" he said. "Are you going to make my bed back, hang my suits [back] up? Put my door [back] on the hinges? Does anybody have Ben Crump's phone number?"
Benjamin Crump is a civil rights attorney best known for successfully representing the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.
The raid on Afroman’s home is yet another perfect example for why we need to legalize not just cannabis, but we should also decriminalize — or, at the very least, defelonize — drug possession nationwide. Raids of this sort often get people injured or even killed, which includes innocent family members, bystanders, and yes, even the police officers conducting the raid.
In the case of Breonna Taylor, police fabricated evidence to illegally justify a drug-related search warrant on her residence, and she was killed by a cop’s stray bullet while she slept in her bed. Police did not find any drugs or contraband in Taylor’s home.
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