Marijuana advocate robbed for his pot - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Marijuana advocate robbed for his pot

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ALBANY, GA (WALB) -

A Dougherty County man, well known as a marijuana legalization advocate, is robbed for his pot.

70-year old Buster Jones was beaten outside his home by two masked men last night.

The robbers took about an ounce of marijuana and his shotgun. 

Buster Jones has been an outspoken advocate of legalizing marijuana for more than two decades.....and today he said that if marijuana were legal, he doesn't think he would have been so viciously attacked.

70-year-old Buster Jones, still wearing the same blood stained shirt he was attacked in last night, has terrible bruises around his mouth and ear where two masked men beat him.  He says they seemed to be after one thing.

"A small bag of marijuana sitting by my bed, which I always have," said Jones.

Jones is an outspoken member of NORML, the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, and even wore their button on his hat today. About 9:15 last night he heard noises outside his Broach Avenue home, and investigated, armed with his .410 shotgun and a knife.

"I just rounded the corner like a fool and the shotgun and they just grabbed the gun and started beating the heck out of me," said Jones.

While one man held Jones down, the other ransacked his home, then ran with his wallet, shotgun and bag of pot. Jones called Police and did not try to hide what was stolen.

"He reported a small amount of marijuana, a smoking pipe, and even his ashtray was stolen from him," said Dougherty County Police Sgt. Chad Kirkpatrick.

Jones suspects two men who tried to sell pot to him earlier this week.

"I told him I had better connections than that and I was fixing to get another ounce of pot and a couple of grams of Kush.  And I guess maybe they could have come back thinking they was going to get a little bit more marijuana," said Jones.

But Jones stuck by his beliefs, and said this kind of violence is caused by marijuana laws.

"The simple prohibition of it. If it was legal nobody would be trying to rip somebody off," said Jones.

Even though battered and bruised by a frighteningly violent crime, Jones sticks by his beliefs and wonders why the two masked men would attack him so violently.

Dougherty County Police did not charge Jones with any drug crime and are investigating the robbery.  There have been no arrests.

DCP did report the marijuana possession to the Albany Dougherty Drug Unit.

Agents say they know Buster Jones well and will "follow up."

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