​When Williamson County Sheriff Ricky Headley was busted for illegal possession of prescription pills, the state of Tennessee taxed him $13,000 on the value of those drugs.

The Tennessean. Sheriff Headley paid the tax, resigned from office, pleaded guilty to four drug charges and one count of official misconduct, and got just under five years’ probation, reports Brian Haas of

Then, the disgraced sheriff got all his money back. Plus interest.

“I got every penny back,” said Headley’s Nashville lawyer, David Raybin.

Tennesseans in a slow but growing trickle have requested and gotten refunds from the state since the Tennessee Supreme Court struck down the so-called “ crack tax ” law in 2009.

The state Department of Revenue has refunded $3.7 million to 161 people, but 2,772 people who paid the tax have not gotten any money back.

The decision doesn’t apply beyond Tennessee, but 22 other states have passed similar drug tax collection laws, which may be vulnerable to similar legal challenges.





​The law, partially based on the 1937 federal law which effectively outlawed marijuana by passing a huge tax on it, required people who bought or sold illicit drugs to buy a tax stamp for the amount of drugs they had.