I've been told I need to blog occasionally, so I shall. Yesterday we had a trial in Newton. The charge was possession of a prescription drug without a prescription. Our defense was that he was given the pills, didn't know what they were, so didn't take them. The pills were given to him by someone at a party when he asked if anyone had anything for heartburn. I think the average age of the jurors was 70. So much for having a jury of your peers. There wasn't a person on the jury that wasn't on a dozen prescriptions. Considering the fact that the vast majority of the population has given a member of the family a prescription drug that has been left over from an early illness, the jury was back rather too quickly.

One interesting fact that came out of the trial was the belief of the Newton Police Department that a person is required to have a prescription pill in a prescription pill bottle. I have had other officers state that they require a person to show them the prescription bottle even if it means allowing the officer to drive them to their residence to show them the container. The Iowa Code states that it is a serious misdemeanor to have in your possession prescription medication unless it has been properly dispensed--whatever that means. The Code (155A) says nothing about having the prescription on your person whenever you may have a prescription drug in your pocket. This is another example of how intrusive our laws have allowed the police to become here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.