Marijuana.com

TigerZ

i have a medicinal marijuana card. i was smoking in my car outside my friends house and feel asleep. my friends one in the car with me the other asleep on his lawn. were woken up about 2 am by sherrifs, who accused us of possesion.
my friends were let go and went back inside, the cops then searched my car after is said i do not allow it, i then showed them my doctors note and card. they said it didnt matter because its a "federal law". they towed my car and arrested me and took me down to the station.

neither of my friends had anything on them and the pipe was in my lap.

was this legal to do at all?

the charge was posseson of 0.3 of a gram

i have a medicinal card and i live in california. they were county sherrifs. not only that. they didnt read me my rights until i was at the station

 

Drag

Everything they did sounds like a bunch of BS to me.

phuzz01

It does not matter that they did not read you you rights until you were back at the station. And the search may or may not have been legal, depending on the circumstances. There is not enough information in your post to say. The real issue in your post is being charged despite having a medical marijuana card.

A sheriff's deputy in California cannot charge you under a federal law, unless he has also been cross-sworn with a federal agency (such as DEA, for example). Members of drug task forces are frequently cross-sworn by federal agencies so that they can charge federal statutes.

Since my state does not have medical marijuana, I don't know what the rules are. Maybe there are restrictions about when, where and how you are allowed to possess it. If you violated those restrictions, you could theoretically be charged under state law. Like I said, I really don't know.

JackBauer

Was that pipe in plain view?

Buzzby

The DEA came right out and said, in Colorado, that they had no interest in prosecuting minor possession cases like this one. If the Sheriff's Department wants to charge you under federal law they are going to have a hell of a time finding a federal court that will hear the case.

I'm wondering if they can charge you under a state DUI statute since you were passed out in your car. (A medical marijuana card doesn't excuse you from that.)

Assuming that you've been arraigned, what were the specific charges?

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phuzz01

Very true.

He said possession of .3 grams. I'm still thinking that in some way, the deputies did not believe that his medical marijuana card was valid, or that he was in some way not following the regulations of the medical marijuana program. Are you familiar with the mm program in CA, buzzby?

sholinmonkey

you can still get charged for a DUI if the engine isn't even running? were the keys in the ignition?

dedbr

going on here. First, do everything the nice officer tells you to do. You have the right to refuse a search, but if you had a piece of paraphenalia on your lap, your going to get searched homey. You know that and I know that.

Your sitting in a car asleep. A bowl on your lap. Police are called on those calls all the time. All the time. As far as the card is concerned, there are some counties that are doing whatever they want to do with the MM laws. Some are going by state law and some by federal. We've had news articles where judges have actually had to order sheriff's to return herb to patients because it would be against federal law for them to do so.

Physical control is the phrase they use, and if you were behind the wheel of the car, then you would be considered to be OVI in some states.

Hope this helps......


Some Where In Ded Land..........

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BartSimpson

One of our better writers. dedbr, has called this one, so I hope he doesn’t mind my wordy comments (I would have written a shorter post if I only had more time).

This is regarding some of the lessons here, TigerZ, I hope you don't take it personal that I point them out, because they are important to help others (and you in the future) from suffering the embarrassment and cost of these episode.

I remind you of the Teenage Trifecta - Pot, Car and Teenage Males. You can not underestimate how frequently these three combined will get you busted - you are only allowed to combine two of these, you pick. Do not put all three together and expect to get off on a technicality.

So think about it, TigerZ; two guys are passed out in a car, another on the lawn. Bart Simpson here, 10 years old, and I would find that worth investigating – and even Chief Wigam better make damn sure you are ok, no matter how you came to his attention. This was not a case of harassment, and a reasonable person would expect the Deputy to recognize that this is not normal behavior - or desirable neighborly behavior. Any guess on how you might have prevented this whole episode. (hint: 2am and I bet it wasn’t a trailer park, nor involved Brittany, Reese, Whitney, or Hilary feeling asleep on the lawn). If it involved any of the aforementioned women please e-mail me the pictures and we will make sure this entire matter just goes away.

While you report your story differently, my personal experience is that it took some time for you to go from your feel asleep state to being oriented to your surroundings. This played a role in the Sheriff's size-up of the situation from looking through his windshield to contacting you. I expect that you and your friend’s initial stories conflicted with the obvious signs observed by the Deputies. Pissing the LEO off with the "you can't look in my car" speech was probably what got your car towed - read the search and seizure thread at the top of this page – the LEO was being nice, he was going to look anyway to get to the bottom of the story. This is really important . . . Teenage Trifecta usually trumps any constitutional right you may think you have.

As for your medical MJ card; my comments are not directed toward you personally. I am sure whatever life threatening sequela you faced was only prevented by your going out to your car and smoking. And therein falling asleep. Some people's lives have been virtually saved by MMJ, however none of those folks seem to match your demographic profile.

You see, MMJ is being abused. I’m shocked, I tell you. It was headline news on Los Angeles television last night, with a big sting on a Doctor using a hidden camera. It seems that many of his "patients" were High School students thinking that this MMJ Letter is the panacea for getting high whenever and wherever they want. They see it as the Monopoly "Get Out of Jail Free" card (Hey, I'm an old fart, so we play board games in the nursing home).

Now you have to stand before a judge to defend your MMJ status, and hope your Doctor shows up for the hearing, when asked by the Judge. Will your Doctor show up for your hearing? How much is that going to cost?

The letter he wrote amounts to a promise to testify in Court that you require MMJ. The Deputy doubted it, and the situation you presented does not lend itself to an easy defense with MMJ. The Deputy Sheriff is calling your bluff, son. It is time to Lawyer up.

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Buzzby

Guide to Proposition 215

Banned activities for marijuana patients:

• Prop. 215 does not give a broad freedom to medical marijuana patients to use marijuana anywhere, any time.

• Prop. 215 contains a provision ensuring that "conduct that endangers others" remains illegal. Such conduct is likely to include driving under the influence of marijuana, operating heavy machinery, or other similar activities, in which there is a realistic risk that a person's marijuana use could impair judgment and lead to harm to other people. Courts would probably also consider smoking marijuana in public or in the workplace to be a danger to others, permitting sanctions against anyone for doing so.