Watching an episode of "COPS" (American 'reality tv' show where our real life police are followed and filmed as they go on patrol and some of the people/situations they encounter)

somebody was stopped and their car searched and they had what looked very much like a snuff box (but theirs filled with illegal drugs) and a baggy of telltale green herb was pulled out of the car

and of course in my nasal snuff-obsessed current status I naturally wondered

anybody ever been pulled over by the police, had your car searched, had a snuffbox of nasal snuff or a bag of tobacco, etc and had this questioned and had to explain?

Can't say I've ever had (knock on wood)
I did read somewhere (was it here even?) of smoebody being accused of 'sniffing brown herion' (but wasn't an officer, was apparently a civilian observer)

any interesting interactions with law authorities (or anyone else for that matter) as a result of your sniffing habit, or having it misunderstood?

(note: lets try to not stray to the political talk in here too much, there's at least one other really good thread for that)

EDIT - to add a related question:
I wonder what drug rehab places do with smokers, do they make people quit smoking along with everything else?
I wonder what a drug rehab place would do if somebody brought in bullets or tins of snuff ("Intervention" TV show inspired question)

I've had:
- One stoner that followed me to a public bathroom thinking i had something else in my tin that he might buy.
- Quite a few mall/pub/etc security people that did everything starting with asking nicely and ending up with pretty much harassment about the RYO i was smoking.
- One granny giving me "the look" when i was rolling up a few smokes while sitting on a bus.
- Countless friends disgusted by my snus habit :).

Commercial smokes are the norm , everything else is odd over here.

There was a commenter on a recent BBC article about snuff who said they'd spent a night in jail when officers arrested him on suspicion of trafficking heroin, but was released the next day. I've never had an issue, although I don't often take snuff in public. If someone was giving me a real hard time (mall or school security and the like) I think I'd just tell them to call the cops and ask them to bring a field test for heroin or whatever else they were accusing me of using. In the US, I imagine it'd be simple enough. Cops come, guy says he thinks I'm blowing heroin or coke or whatever, I tell them they can test a sample from any of my tins I may have, test comes back negative and I go on my way. British cops don't have to deal with quite the same madness officers do here concerning lawsuits, so I imagine they'd be more inclined to just arrest me. Here, if a cop arrested me after I'd let him test whatever he wanted to his hearts content, I imagine I might have a fair shot at securing financing for the rest of my college education.

I've posted regarding a situation where I was forced to leave a volunteer food bank because I was seen sniffing a suspicious powder. The director wouldn't listen to me and refused to look at the Poschl box I held up for display. I've also had people think I was tooting drugs in restaraunts and gotten the dirty stare from an old lady when I took a line of snuff off the back of my hand at a store.

I attended a VA 28 day in-patient substance abuse program and carried and used nasal snuff the entire time. We were drug tested daily so none of the staff really cared about it and readily accepted my explanation that it was tobacco. Then again it was the VA so they don't really care about anything. I did refrain from using a bullet or sniffing during the NA meetings out of respect to the drug addicts present who might have found it to be a trigger for their cravings.

I am also a retired Police Sgt. and have worked the streets as well as undercover narcotics. At the time I knew only vaguely of snuff and brought a can of Garret to the station once but no one cared. A few old timers knew what it was but at the time I was using it orally.

I never came across nasal snuff during my career. Illegal powder substances are not usually found in 10 or 20 gram tins or plastic flip top boxes. Only dealers and mules would carry anything more than a tiny ziplock baggy full and even then they would have to be pretty stupid to brandish it about. The average 'dope user' doesn't have tons of money and would only be carrying far less than a gram. Powdered substances I saw ranged anywhere from clear ice crystals, to white, to red, to brownish or tan, and just about any combination thereof depending on what it was, how it was made and what it was cut with.

Some police have field test kits to detect the presence of opiates, meth, cocaine, or even LSD. Due to the cost we rarely carried them with us though. If you get jacked up by an overzealous rookie who thinks your snuff is actually meth or something illegal then in Texas you can easily be taken to jail and charged with possession. You will be held until a judge arraigns you at which time you are released pending analysis (RPA'd). The case will be dropped once the results come back negative from the lab but in the meantime you have been permanently booked into the state computer system with a mug shot, fingerprints, and a criminal record you will now have to get expunged. Though you were not convicted, you will now be obligated to answer "yes" as to whether you have ever been charged with a felony.

You can sue and may get some money since cities tend to settle out of court to avoid litigation expenses. However, you will have gone through a frustrating, embarassing, and maybe costly experience when its all over. You may have a James Dean attitude and not care all you want but what I've just described is a very real scenario that could easily happen. I'm amazed that I haven't heard of it happening yet but I imagine its only a matter of time. The majority of cops are pretty sharp and would probably be able to figure out your nasal snuff isn't illegal, but there are a few screwups who manage to slip into every agency. I've seen people brought in for having a few marijuana seeds in the floorboard of their car or a tiny baggie with only a trace of powder residue in it.

The bottom line in my opinion is to use common sense and discretion. The legal system is a nightmare and once you get sucked into it you'll find out just how far your freedom goes. Cops have a saying, "You can beat the rap but you can't beat the ride". I for one hope to never take that ride.

Wow, I never thought of myself as middle aged. Wow.

I've said this on here before. I've actualy have had several times where people called the police on me for smoking rolled cigarettes or my pipe when I was a teen. I once had a stupid girl tell me I was cool for snuffing herion when I was doing a dean swift (somehow I was the asshole when I told her that wouldn't be cool and that I'd never heard of strawberry herion before.) I once had a police officer roll past me as I was snuffing from a bullet, he looked suprised and gave me the what an idiot head shake. Never been pulled in. Never been searched except for once during a long story where I fit the discription of a perp, the cop and me had a long conversation about slow days at work and tobacco. Wasn't the most pleasant experience, not too horrible either (fortunatly I had so much stuff crambed in my pockets he missed several key items.

Never had a problem, but in the UK, a pinch of snuff in most places is still recognised as just that.

Why should anyone care what people think, police included.

I am actually turned off by the idea of offering people snuff. Would you want a smoker coming up and offering a puff?

Use your snuff, use it where you want. If anyone gives you a look, give them a look back.

YOU ARE USING TOBACCO NOT METH, COKE, or BLACK TAR HEROIN.

But hey, if you want to spend the rest of your life stuck in a closet scared that the big bad boogey man is going to come get you, then by all means do so.

I've never had a weird look, or a question. I've used snuff in front of police, security, etc. I would like to think that they realize what I am doing. In the last 3 years that I have been snuffing, I have never been arrested, interrogated, questioned or detained. Of course, maybe it's the brown powder coming out of a black snuffbox that smells of citrus instead of a white powder that sends the test kits blue. Everyone complains about government interference in their lives, all the while they are the ones restricting themselves.

Me, drama?

I'm not the one so worried about persecution from using tobacco in pubic that I'm willing to refrain from doing so.

Paranoid much?

I think the person missing the point is you.

@Tc2642

the biggest difference near as I can tell is that people here simply don't know what it is.

I'm anything but a troll.

And maybe if you would have *read* my 1st reply and not reacted to it with such disdain, perhaps I wouldn't have to be *"the first and only troll"*

If it's any comfort to you, in the 3 years I have been on here, and of the 1,500 members on here, I have never heard of anyone getting arrested for snuff.

Sigh...

again, If you'd have taken the time to actually *read* before going ballistic, the topic wasn't/isnt about anyone 'being arrested for using snuff'
I read the entire thread, and if you look at my first post, you will see that I was not so much going "ballistic" on you, as it was directed more towards the idea of being afraid of using tobacco in public.

why aren't you flying off the handle at those who've actualy been officers and contributed to this conversation?
What is it? because they've either been here longer than you, are male, or is it because they are authority figures?
You are more than welcome to check my register date against the others, if you so choose.
Why does it matter that they are male? You said that one, not me. And again, if you read my first post, again, you will see that I openly say that we should not be afraid to snuff in public, even in front of authority figures.

You're only a troll because you're making the choice to be.
Own and take responsibility for your own actions,
Again, I am anything but a troll. I have been a respectful member of this forum for the past 3 years, but I also call a spade a spade.

Alternatively you could choose to go out and make a loud public spectacle of yourself, be as obnoxious to everyone you can, snuff tin in hand the whole time -- I think that'd be a much better response you should hurry and get right on.
Sorry, I'm not the one making the paranoid threads here... you are.

@ whistlrr

Interesting, from my own very limited experience when I have offered smokers a pinch they do (mostly) seem to say '"oh, is that snuff?" Had the same experience only this last weekend.