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Teacher fined $500 for showing class how to roll oregano joint…

12:18 PM EDT on October 19, 2015

miami teacher fake joint

Back in January, we first told you about Vincent Warford. He's the cool teacher from Oklahoma's Miami who taught a high school class how to roll a joint filled with oregano for educational purposes. In the industry, it's called a "practice joint", "spice joint" or "spoint."

During the lesson, an amazed student took a pic and sent it to some Twitter account called Party Stories. It's a part of the Teen Twitter universe – a dark scary place filled with strange hashtags and follow trains. I don't know much about it.

Party Stories shared the photo with their 100K+ followers. The media then got a hold of it. Considering most parents would probably prefer that a drug dealer, best friend, older sibling or YouTube star teach their kids how to roll a joint, Mr. Warford was forced to resign. It seemed like a fair punishment. Although a petty pot dealer probably makes more than an Oklahoma teacher, losing your job is a big deal.

Unfortunately for Chad, he lives in Oklahoma. Around here, the word "fair" makes our prosecutors, judges and juries more nauseated than a Taco Mayo Little Big Bowl. In addition to losing his job, we've learned Mr. Warford has also been fined $500 and received a two-year deferred sentence for, once again, showing his class how to take a spice that goes well in spaghetti sauce, place it in paper, and then roll it into something that mimics a marijuana cigarette.

Via The Tulsa World:

A former Miami teacher and coach received a two-year deferred sentence Friday in connection with a photograph that appeared on social media depicting him rolling a fake marijuana cigarette in a classroom.

Vincent Chad Warford, 43, of Miami, pleaded guilty in Ottawa County District Court to an amended charge of outraging public decency. He originally was charged with a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was fined $500.

During the plea hearing, Warford responded “yes” when Special Judge William E. Culver asked him if “he rolled a marijuana joint (filled) with oregano in his classroom.”

That's ridiculous. Oklahoma is such a screwed up state. If he taught his class how to make a gun out of a Pringles can, he probably would have received several medals and been featured on the jumbotron at a Thunder game. Instead, he teaches his students how to roll a joint (something useful and non-lethal) and he gets tagged with a big fine and a mark on his record.

Of course, who gives a rat's ass about that? He was teaching his class how to roll a joint! That's stupid! Why was he doing that?

The Tulsa World explains:

Warford was teaching a psychology class on the effects and history of mind-altering drugs. Three students were given the assignment covering marijuana. One student brought oregano and rolling papers, another student brought in a pan of brownies that did not contain marijuana, and another student was supposed to give an oral report, drug task force investigator Chris Morris said at the time of Warford’s arrest.

Morris said earlier that Warford and a student “were rolling fake joints but they were also encouraging other students to roll fake joints.”

Warford gave the student permission to bring oregano and rolling papers and said he was going to assist in the presentation, according to an arrest affidavit.

One student said “during the presentation Mr. Warford shared his experiences with marijuana and acid” and told the class “they should not use acid” but “if marijuana was legal he would use and did not see anything wrong with it,” the affidavit states.

You know what? I kind of agree with Mr. Warford. Acid? Kind of scary. Use with caution. The bad stuff can either kill you or make you a stop sign will. Marijuana? Should be legal and I don't see anything wrong with it. I really hope no high school students just read that. I don't want to be charged with outraging public decency. I can't afford the $500 fine.

Anyway, I really do feel sorry for Mr. Warford, so I created a Go Fund Me to help him recoup his costs. You can donate by clicking here... at least until the Oklahoma authorities try to shut it down.

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