In 2000, Colorado passed Amendment 20. Amendment 20 changed the Colorado Constitution affording Colorado Citizens access to medical marijuana (MMJ). Not much happened in the first eight years from the passage of the Amendment, but when the Obama administration took office and changed the DEA's policies regarding federal marijuana law enforcement a new industry was born.
This blog is not about the burgeoning Colorado Springs Medical Marijuana business. It isn't even about Colorado Springs Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) charges arising out of MMJ use (that's a much longer blog). It is about the unintended consequences of obtaining a medical marijuana card, being able to legally possess MMJ in Colorado, and the risks you take when you leave the State of Colorado--especially in a vehicle. You should call a Colorado Springs Medical Marijuana lawyer or DUI lawyer to assess those risks before they become problems.
Geography lesson--the State immediately to the west of Colorado is Utah. Utah is not commonly known for its tolerance of intoxicants, legal or otherwise. In fact, Utah has even passed a DUI law that essentially allows the State of Utah to convict a driver of DUI even if the driver isn't impaired and there isn't any active drug metabolite in the driver's blood system! This law is called "Driving with a measurable controlled substance/non-impaired DUI."
Geography lesson #2. The closest IKEA to Colorado is in Utah (until the Denver IKEA opens).
So what happens when a completely sober and stylish Colorado resident who holds a MMJ card and drives a stylish car with Colorado plates drives to Utah to get some stylish, yet inexpensive, Scandinavian furniture from IKEA and gets stopped for speeding? That's right, he gets a DUI that potentially revokes his driver's license in Colorado for an offense that doesn't even exist in Colorado!
Moral of the story: make sure you know the consequences of traveling with your MMJ card, or even admitting you use MMJ, outside of the State of Colorado.
