K-9 finds liquid marijuana during traffic stop in Racine County

 

RACINE COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A traffic stop in Racine County Saturday morning led to a large seizure of liquid marijuana. Sheriff's Deputies pulled over a car going 16 mph over the speed limit in a construction zone on I-94 near State Highway 11. K-9 Friday then alerted the deputies to the odor of illegal drugs. 

After a search of the car, deputies found 206 vials of liquid marijuana used in vaping. The vials have an estimated street value of over $6,000.

A 22-year-old Kenosha man is being held on drug charges.

“This young man truly put a flag on himself. speeding through a construction zone," Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said. "Illegal tint on his vehicle, no registration that came back to that particular vehicle.”

Schmaling says liquid marijuana is treated the same as the plant.

“These are misdemeanors, but when you talk about possession with the intent to deliver it turns it into a felony.”

Schmaling says I-94 has always been a hotspot for drug trafficking between Chicago and Milwaukee. He says the incident underscores a larger problem of people putting various kinds of drugs into vape pens.

“At the end of the day this is ending up in children’s hands as well these types of things," Schmaling said. "And law enforcement and parents and guardians aren’t knowing what their sons or daughters are doing with these vaping devices. and they’ll think, well they’re not smoking. and the reality is, you don’t know what they’re putting in those vaping pens.”

Schmaling says people are more willing to carry marijuana on them given political debate over legalization, but his department is not taking part in that debate and will continue to uphold the current law.