Ceelo Gaston
Photo Credit: Joe Budd
“I went to jail—I was maybe 19. I'll never forget that.”
My name is Ceelo Gaston. I'm 32-years-old, and I'm from downtown San Francisco, born and raised. Right here. 6th Street.
Growing up, when the police would catch us with weed, they never used to arrest us. But they did take our weed and throw it on the ground, step on it, shred it, whatever so we can't smoke it. That was happening throughout my whole high school and even in my early 20's.
Now that I'm older and that was my past life, I think they was just trying to have a reason to search us. They were trying to find harsher drugs. So they would just see us with weed and now they got an excuse to pull us over, take off our socks and shoes, hem us up against the wall, go through our pockets.
I actually went to jail — I was maybe 19. I'll never forget that.
I was driving. Some friends of mine was smoking in my car. I didn't smoke that day, but we got pulled over by the police. They thought I was under the influence, which I wasn't, and they arrested me. They took me to the drunk tank, did a little blood test, and I went to court, what, 2-3 weeks after. They dismissed my case but I still had to pay the fees for my car got towed and all that stuff.
I tried to go talk to the police, talk to somebody, because if I'm innocent, shouldn't I get the $500 I paid to get my car out the tow reimbursed? They said, “Oh, no, you don't get it back because your case was dismissed. You weren't actually found innocent.” I was just happy being out of jail and not having a DUI under my license, but that was a lot of money for me at the time. And I had to pay it. Not the police, who were wrong for arresting me.
I live and I learn. Back then, I was smoking just to try to fit in, I thought I was being cool. Now, I have a hard time sleeping, so I smoke to get good sleep. And I don't never let anybody smoke in my car anymore. If I'm gonna smoke it’s for a reason, and I'm in the house, never inside the car. I'm not gonna take that chance anymore. I know what they can do.
