She wanted to fight, but as we all know a jury is a 50/50 proposition at best. She had been facing one misdemeanor marijuana possession charge and two felonies for the warming light, as the officers and prosecuting attorney said, “It could have grown marijuana at some point” even though there was no evidence of it. The felonies you ask? Manufacturing Marijuana and Distribution of Marijuana.
We continued sharing our story in our town and beyond. We had one year to work to replace the Sheriff who was responsible for the implementation of such overkill to arrest peaceful people who have caused no harm to anyone.
We were traumatized by the experience and decided to work as a family to end prohibition and change these antiquated laws so that others would not have to go through what we did.
That is when we reached out to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) for the second time to learn how to amplify our voices. We needed to change Georgia law and had an army of supporters already. I will never forget going to the Courthouse, where one-year earlier Brittany faced 26 years in prison, to watch the election returns in the Sheriff's Race with the rest of the town. Every time the updated numbers for Sheriff came in a loud roar echoed through the two-story lobby, it was like we were at Falcon's game.
Brittany and I shed a few tears that night as, thanks to our neighbors and friends, our County ushered in by a 2 to 1 landslide a new Sheriff. Our town was no longer under the rule of Sheriff Mark McClure. My daughter and I, along with several other hard-working activists, came together to found Peachtree NORML in 2012 and set our eyes on the Gold Dome and the State of Georgia. We continue to educate others daily about the harms of prohibition.
We no longer think of ourselves as victims of this damn drug war. We have become warriors to end it. We do this to gain freedom of our own body and we do this for other families. We do it as a family, as if our lives depend on it, because we know how lucky we were and understand how many didn't come out alive.
-Sharon L. Ravert
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