amanda88
Well-known member
When Washington and Colorado legalized recreational pot use, enthusiasts across the country thought these states had become the Wild, Wild West of Marijuana Freedom. Truth is, a person still cannot sit on a park bench puffing a blunt, nor buy or carry more than one ounce on his/her person. And while hundreds of dispensaries sprang up, none can link with a bank because marijuana is a federally “Schedule 1 Substance” and financial institutions operate under the auspices of the FDIC. They cannot knowingly conduct business with any organizations who are in the recreational drug business. Add to that, pot shops routinely get raided and closed for various reasons, from poor tax and business practices all the way to associating with international drug cartels.
And if people think they can make a mule-run to Colorado, they might be in for a rude surprise. Neighboring states' highway patrols are on the lookout for any vehicles seemingly heading away from Colorado, and ones with CO license plates will often get pulled over for mystical reasons, Fourth Amendment be damned.
Jessica Jones, 19-year-old college student, believes she was targeted for her green-and-white license plates when she was pulled over and searched by Nebraska State Patrol in January.
"I think he had to make up a reason to pull me over, just because I had a Colorado license plate," Jones said. Jones was pulled over on her way back to school at Chadron State College in Nebraska. She said the state trooper stopped her for speeding, searched her vehicle without her consent and told her she was driving with "the green badge of courage" on her license plate. Jones' story is only one of many, the police are generally not sympathetic towards pot users and are not shy about inventing probable-cause if it means an easy drug bust. And it's not just the smoking products that can land one in hot water.
As it turns out, there is an increasingly popular new line of products on the market whose timing seems to fit right in with society’s easing on 420 issues: Various candy edibles and cannabis-infused drinks with names like Cannacola and Keef Cola, ostensibly for medical use.
While sitting in a coffee shop, I saw a uniformed police officer I walked up, introduced myself as a writer and asked if it was okay to chat for a few minutes. I told the officer the topic and he agreed for a chat, as long as I didn’t mention his name or department (it wasn’t Denver PD, but a connecting next-door city). I agreed and we sat for a few.
I was curious how officers could ramp up from suspicion to arrest for driving-under-the-influence of drugs. We all understand that a person who has been drinking too much exhibits obvious telltale signs of intoxication, at which point a field sobriety test and blowing into a handheld PBT —Preliminary Breath Tester —become mere formalities on the way to a DWI arrest. But what about a 420 user? Even if he’s not under the influence at the moment, his clothes, hair and car will still emit an aroma,— often very strong.
“We’re not dummies,” the officer told me. “We can tell if somebody is flying too high. We do get a fair amount of training; I can tell in two seconds if someone is drunk, high, tweaking, or overdid prescription meds. I’m rarely wrong, and by rarely, I mean never.”
I asked if he had heard of the new wave of THC-laced beverages that are hitting the market. “We have and, in fact, know the various brand can designs by sight, so a person can’t be driving around intoxicating themselves with the contents of a beverage container that looks like an innocent soft drink.”
Now that MJ can be used in Colorado, I wondered; is there going to be an easing on drivers suspected of cannabis use. “People would be sorely mistaken to think that they can toke or use to the max with impunity. You can’t carry, on your person or transport in your car, more than one ounce, —two ounces if you have a med card. If we suspect you’re high, you are getting breath-tested. A THC drink is an open intoxicant and will be addressed as such. Period.”
Yes, there are breath-testers that register marijuana use. They’re called Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR). A “positive” comes with an arrest and all the bells & whistles of a standard DWI charge, the officer informed me.
The feeling I gathered was that residents of Colorado or enthusiastic visitors shouldn’t test the goodwill of the constabulary. Square or not, cops seem prepared to go by the exact letter of the law, to the point of malicious compliance. Don’t forget that, even though every cop and every department in the country denies it, they are driven to make as many arrests and write as many tickets per shift as they can. And your average police officer isn’t going to have a whole lot of empathy for a 420 enthusiast, medically sanctioned or otherwise, on the highways of Nebraska or the streets of Denver.
http://www.milehighcity.com/marijuana.html
ps. cops never change
