Smoking Pot Legal in Washington State and Colorado..well, at least on the State level at any rate

[shadowkat]

Apparently Colorado and Washington made recreational marijuana or pot legal. Which is interesting, considering it isn't legal Federally. This sort of puts Colorado at odds with the Federal Government.

So...while it is legal to smoke pot in Colorado from the State's perspective, you might not want to do it around any Federal DEA agents?

Also, they couldn't have passed this law when I was in school out there?

Go here: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/political/marijuana-legal-in-colorado-washington-but-dont-break-out-the-cheetos-yet

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/us/politics/marijuana-laws-eased-in-colorado-and-washington.html?_r=0

Comments

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

This "legalization" also has my blogger brother in a pickle. He's pro-legalization, but anti-states flouting federal law and setting a precedent for that on measures that are less agreeable being passed by other states. My guess? It won't be able to stand just because the popular vote likes it. It may end up going up through the courts.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Good guess. And agree. As I was relating to embers below...it's a drug trafficking attorney's dream scenario. So many issues - you have jurisdiction, conflict of laws, when does Federal Law come into play, etc.

ie. while possession in your house of marijiunana may not be illegal, if the FEDs can prove you carried it across the border? Then you are under their jurisdiction. If you are using it in transit - ie. smoking a joint while driving from Colorado to Kansas (which my brother actually did once and ended up in Oklahoma), then it's Federal jurisdiction. Or very well could be.
Also not legal in Kansas - so who governs?

Lots of legal conundrums.

This just pushes the courts and Supreme Court to interpret legality.

Reminds me a little of prohibition and the alcohol laws.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Arizona legalized medical marijuana not long ago. But every time the state talks about setting up to license places where it could be sold, the feds say they'll arrest the people accepting the applications for the state.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Very good example of how Federal law conflicts with State Law. You're fine as long as you don't cross into the federal jurisdiction. Which is a lot harder to avoid than one might think.

Does give lawyers something to do though.

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

WA legalized marijuana as well. It'll be interesting to see how they get around that whole pesky federal law thing.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

So much of it depends on jurisdiction and where you are using it. I'm sure quite a few drug lawyers in WA celebrated.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

They did the same thing within the city limits of Detroit.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

How do you do it for just one area of a city? That brings in conflicts between local, federal and state laws. Oh that sounds like a lot of fun to legally manauver.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

That brings in conflicts between local, federal and state laws. Oh that sounds like a lot of fun to legally manauver.

Yup, that's typical for the City of Detroit. A godawful mess.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's an interesting conundrum. If they do manage to set up legal places to buy the pot, though, they're going to take a huge chunk of money out of the illegal drug trade (to the tune of 1 billion+ per year, is what I'm hearing) so while I think it will probably end up going through the courts, the federal government might be persuaded to back down on this one. The money alone is a compelling argument.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

from the news commentators I've been listening to it sounds like the Federal Govt won't want to fight these new laws legalizing marijuana: there has been so much problem with the illegal drug trade AND the over crowding of jails for non-violent offenders (which ends up effecting non-white Americans disproportionately). So they (the pundits) are expecting a 'wait and see' view of this experiment. I hope that it is successful myself... it would do a lot of good, potentially.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

While it does create pressure on the Feds...masq is right, it also creates bureaucratic head-aches. I want marijuana to be legal, but it's hard to do much when the State and the Federal laws aren't in agreement, because Federal law will govern the trafficking. Federal law often governs movement of goods across state lines or between one country and another. There's all sorts of interesting conflict of laws and jurisdiction issues sprouting up over this one. It's a conflict of laws attorney's or attorney specializing in drug trafficking cases wet dream.