The news this morning of a the North Metro Drug Unit raiding 25 where alleged pot-growing operation were occurring is a good reminder that legal operations need to know the chain of custody of their supplies back to the seed. You can expect quite a bit more action from law enforcement, following these arrests.
Category Archives: Marijuana law
Medical marijuana associated with fewer traffic deaths
Certainly no one advocates driving when high on marijuana, especially a criminal defense attorney, but the interesting news about state medical marijuana laws being associated with lower traffic fatality rates should spark some interesting discussion when the Colorado Legislature reconsiders it driving under the influence of drugs law next year.
One researcher said the drop in fatality rate could be attributed to young people in those states spending less time drinking and more time smoking cannabis. Legalization of medical marijuana, the researchers said, is associated with a 12-percent drop in the alcohol-related fatal-crash rate and a 19-percent decrease in the fatality rate of people in their 20s, according to the study.
Apparently, medical- marijuana legalization is associated with a drop in beer sales. Read more about this at the Denver Post.
Serious changes in store for medical marijuana law?
Reply
Apparently the state of Colorado is obligated by this year’s state statute to ask the DEA to designate marijuana as a Schedule II Drug, such as morphine or cocaine, from a Schedule I Drug, which according to federal law has no medical use. This could clear up some of the confusion between state that recognize medical marijuana and the federal law that does not, and could potentially lead to more interdiction by the DEA into local growing and use of marijuana. Of course, it will probably take more than one state requesting that this change be made to get the federal government to move on the change. Still an interesting scenario that everyone involved in this legal trade should consider.
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/10/marijuana_schedule_ii_dea_colorado.php
Task force looks at driving under the influence of marijuana
A commission formed after the failure to enact a DUI law for marijuana at the Colorado Legislature during the last session, will once again look at setting a pro se level for THC impairment. Read more here.
Difficult to say where things may go from here
Every once in a while you’ve got to chuckle at how differently people perceive what’s happening in an area of law, though when it comes to Colorado’s Medical Marijuana law it’s pretty easy to see why almost everyone is confused. Here in same week we have to BusinesWeek writing how medical marijuana workers are seeking to unionize, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-19/marijuana-dealers-join-union-seeking-retirement-benefits-clout.html
while at the same time a piece in the Blade, a Washington, D.C., gay news source is talking about how the Obama Administration is seeking to destroy the industry.
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/10/20/obama%E2%80%99s-assault-on-medical-marijuana-laws/
These are interesting times.