Iowa City Man Caught with a Substantial Amount of Marijuana, Claims He Was High, then Claims He Wasn't

An Iowa City man was stopped Tuesday afternoon with a substantial amount of marijuana in his possession, telling officers that the 455 grams of weed in his vehicle was mostly for his own personal use.

Altan Thomas Jackson (also known as Big O), 25, was charged with operating under the influence, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and an Iowa drug tax-stamp violation-- a serious misdemeanor and two felonies-- after police stopped his vehicle and found marijuana inside at 4600 Herbert Hoovery Highway 1:47 Tuesday afternoon.

According to criminal complaints, Jackson was stopped after failing to stop at a stop sign and was acting nervous once confronted by officers. A K9 Unit was brought to the scene and searched the vehicle, finding the marijuana.

Jackson said the pot was for his personal use and that he smokes every day, and was even high when he was stopped by officers and that he had smoked shortly before driving. The complaint states that Jackson consented to a drug recognition evaluation (DRE) and was determined by that to be impaired enough that he could not operate a motor vehicle. After officers explained the DRE process to him Jackson later recanted his story, claiming he was not high.