Marijuana Policy Project

Police charged a man with failing to pay taxes on his marijuana after he was allegedly found with a felony amount of the drug early Tuesday morning.

Police "patted down" the man after a call reporting suspicious activity brought them to him, alleging he matched a description of a man reported to have been arguing earlier near St. Stan’s Middle School, possibly holding a handgun.

Police had been called by a St. Stan’s employee at about 4:41 p.m. reporting that two African-American men in their late teens or early 20s were arguing with a teenage white male, who drove off in a blue car.

Then at 2:50 a.m., police were called about some suspicious activity on the 600 block of East Fifth Street. The caller suspected that two men were planning to break into a residence.

Police said that Dwight Allen Beard, 31, of Winona, resembled one of the African-American men described in the earlier call. An officer reportedly patted him down, felt a "large lump" in the man’s pocket with a "portion of a plastic bag sticking out."

Police said that when Beard was questioned about the lump and baggy, he took off running. Chief Deputy Paul Bostrack said that when Beard ran, the officer patting him down ended up holding a baggy of marijuana, which he said came out of the pocket when the man began running.

Beard shortly tripped on a stair and police tried to apprehend him. Bostrack said that he struggled and the officers used a taser to subdue him.

Beard cut his forehead during the struggle, according to police, and was transported to Community Memorial Hospital for treatment, then to the jail.

Bostrack said that the amount of marijuana in Beard’s pocket was over the 42 gram threshold for a felony charge.

Beard was charged with possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, fleeing police on foot, obstructing or resisting arrest and "failure to affix tax stamps."

State statute 297D suggests that a person “possessing marijuana or a controlled substance without affixing the appropriate [tax] stamps, labels or other indicia is guilty of a crime and, upon conviction, may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than seven years or to payment of a fine of no more than $14,000, or both.”

The statute also suggests that each gram of marijuana is subject to a $3.50 tax.

If Beard can prove he’s already paid taxes on his marijuana in another state or local unit of government at a rate of equal or more than the Minnesota marijuana tax, "no tax is due," according to Statute 297D.085. However, the statute also states that, "The burden is on the taxpayer to show that an excise tax on the marijuana or controlled substances has been paid," to another state or government unit.

The statute says that a person must pay their marijuana taxes "immediately upon acquisition or possession," and that they can be purchased from a "tax commissioner." The statute says that a person can get such stamps without giving a name, address or Social Security number, but that such stamps and the statute itself provide no immunity from prosecution for possessing the drug.