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.

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?

__________________

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?

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.

sholinmonkey

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

troublemaker_42

Yes, at least in my home state, you can be arrested for DUI even if the engine isn't running. The keys aren't even required to be in the ignition. The only requirement is that you are in "physical control of the vehicle" Sitting in the driver's seat, with the keys in your pocket, could meet that definition.

phuzz01

Here, too. The definition of "drive" in my state includes actual physical control. Keys in the ignition are certainly helpful towards proving that, but not necessary.

JackBauer

Was that pipe in plain view?