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I was recently arrested for a marijuana charge. I've never really been in any trouble with the police before and have no idea what I should do. I really really don't want to tell my parents as it will screw a lot of things up. Likewise though, I am in desperate need of some advice as to what course of action I should take. Apparently, the reason I was pulled over was because I was a car length apart from the car in front of me, when according to the officer I should have been farther away from the car, especially since there were no other cars on the road. I was not participating in any illegal activities at the time, however had smoked in my car several hours earlier. The officer explained to me that my car smelled and to step out so that he could search it. I was well aware the full time I had about a 2 gram bag of marijuana on me in my hoodie sleeve pocket, however had no idea there was anything in my car because it was that messy. Right away the first thing the officer found was an empty sandwich bag that he claimed reeked like marijuana (which it probobly did, however was empty). At that point he searched my friend and I, finding nothing more. After thoroughly searching my car for about 10 minutes, he found a half of a blunt in a white owl bottle that had fallen out of my friends pocket into the car. He asked who the half blunt belonged too, and being that my friend was already out on bail I decided to take the blame. I had hoped that since I was cooperating fully and being extremely polite, he would just throw the half blunt out and let me go with just a ticket of some sort. Fat chance. It seemed finding the half blunt only served to convince him further that there would be a huge stash in my car. It was at this point he really starting searching my car hardcore, including the trunk. Quite literally another 15 minutes went by, with him having further found only 2 cigars and an empty baggie. He then asked me to walk over to his car where he told me he was then going to place me under arrest and have my car impounded. It was actually after the cuffs were already on that he spotted my hoodie sleeve pocket and checked it as a last resort. At that point he found the 2 gram bag, though still seemed like he believed I was hiding much more somewhere.

So now here I am at the police station with this officer explaining to me the minimum sentences for the charges against me, which include a mandatory loss of license for a year. If I lose my license for a year, I can't go to school. If I don't go to school, my parents will make me pay rent and look for a reason to kick me out of the house. If they find out I was arrested, they most likely will just kick me out of the house. It's not that my parents are heartless, but they have caught me with marijuana several times in the past and are 200% intolerant of it. I live from paycheck to paycheck, paying all my own bills including car, gas, insurance, cell phone, etc...Theres been a couple times where I've been a few hundred bucks in debt and after failing for a while to work myself out of it received help from my parents. I love my parents very much, however we dont see eye to eye on hardly anything, making it quite hard to get along at times. I guess what I'm trying to say is my life, weather it be my living or financial situation, is anything but secure.

Now, go figure, the officer offered me a solution. He said though the law does not allow him to make any promises, he can probobly make all 4 charges against me "go away" should I choose to cooperate through being an informant. A narc. At the time I agreed completely, regardless of the fact that it goes against everything I believe in. He suggested doing a possible takedown of somebody where the both of us will get arrested at the same time which made sense at the time, but does not make any sense now that I think about me walking out of the police station while some dealer watches me leave from a cell. Though I did not mention that at the time, the officer assured me there would be no way that my name would ever be revealed to the dealer and even on paper I would become "just a number." He wanted names immidately though I failed to come up with any, stating I did not want to give out names of people that were possibly not dealing or maybe not even smoking weed anymore. He said he understood that I was just nervous, and come next meeting we would get farther.

I have no idea what I should do. Don't get me wrong here, I love smoking weed. I've smoked every day since I was 14, and am now 19. HOWEVER, a marijuana charge, however unserious it may seem to others, is an extremely big deal for me. It not only stays with me for the rest of my life as a criminal record but instantly destroys a few career fields I was hoping to possibly explore sometime in my life, weather that be a long time from now or in the near future. If it were this simple, I would literally be willing to go so far as not take another hit the rest of my life (eeeek...) if it meant those charges would be dropped.

I'm only 19 years old, am in my second year of college, and have never had any trouble with the police before, though that didn't seem to help me out when I was being arrested. I really don't want to narc on somebody, however I would probobly be willing to if it meant the charges would be dropped. Again though, it's not that simple. The officer never made any promises about the charges being dropped, and seemed to care much more about him making another arrest then me having a ride to school and place to live. To further complicate things, I've been getting weed from my friend lately because he lost his job and I've been smoking him out. In return, he's the middleman and would find whatever bud I needed. Therefor, I honestly do not know who I could rat out. I know some people that used to deal, though I haven't had contact with them recently. There is only one person I know that deals and I still get bud off regularly. The only problem with this, is the kid is making a lot of money dealing and has been nothing but nice to me and trustfull when other weren't nearly as trusting. Now that I have this kids trust and could most likely get him taken down without him ever knowing it was me, it makes it 100x harder to rat him out. If it comes down to either me or him getting a weed charge, I'll take the selfish route of choosing him, however honestly don't even know if my morals would allow me to follow through on something like that. In addition to this, the officer explained to me that I would need to get him two names, otherwise it makes no sense to trade one arrest for another.

So, that's my story, and I don't have the slightest idea as to what route to take. The whole situation has left me extremely conflicted between morals, emotions, and the plate life has handed to me. I have no idea what to do, can't afford to get an attorney, and dont want a public defender for fear of my parents finding out or possibly the cops finding out and getting the impression that I am no longer willing to cooperate.

Ps. I have four charges against me including 2 motor vehicle charges and a paraphanelia charge, and a marijuana charge. The thought of getting these all dropped for cooperating is appealing though seemingly unrealistic. In addition, this cop seems to think Im going to be spending my new years partying my ass off like every other 19 year old and will have a good oppurtunity at that point to establish who I will narc on. Only problem with this is Im not dorming like I was last year and pretty much am completely anti social now that I live at home. I know a lot of people, but don't consider any of them my friends nor do I really hang out with them. So, that being said, I am left with extremely limited options. Hopefully somebody here can enlighten me upon a better approach towards this whole situation in addition to what my realistic options are that will make things work out.


PPS. On a bit of a better note, I've still been smoking and due to this whole situation have been having the most extreme revelations and discussions about life and religon the last couple days. Regardless of how this turns out, I know in the very least I will learn a lot and mature from it.