Verdict in Explosives Case Makes Me Think of Pot Laws

An Egyptian student was found not guilty on charges of carrying explosives that prosecutors said could have been used to build a dangerous rocket.

Prosecutors said deputies found PVC pipes, fuses and other materials that could have been combined with gasoline to build a destructive device when the former University of South Florida student, Youssef Samir Megahed, and a friend were pulled over on a South Carolina highway in 2007.

The lawyer for Mr. Megahed argued that the items were no more harmful than a road flare and that his friend, Ahmed Mohamed, put the items in the car trunk without Mr. Megahed’s knowledge. They were doing sparklers for a July 4th fireworks show, I suppose. But I digress.

The case, filled with terrorist overtones, came nearly four months after Mr. Mohamed was sentenced to 15 years in prison for making a YouTube video showing would-be terrorists how to turn a remote-control toy into a bomb detonator.

Here is a guy who had nothing to lose going to trial. But you gotta wonder how a guy gets 15 years under federal law for making a video showing how to turn a remote control into a bomb but gets thirty for growing too much weed in his backyard.