Keep Your Medical Marijuana Card on You
Video Transcribed: What happens if you get pulled over and you have some marijuana on you, but you don’t have your medical card? Is that a crime? Well, it is, but it’s not as bad as you think.
My name is Ryan Cannonie, I am the Tahlequah Criminal Defense Attorney for the Wirth Law Office in Tahlequah And this happened to a client here pretty recently. They were driving, got pulled over, they had some marijuana on them.
And they have a card, they just, for some reason, left the house without it that day. And so they called me afterward to see if what happened was legal. And so I kind of walked them through the statute of it. So the statute and the law on this is found in Title 63, Section 420, with the rest of the medical marijuana law. It’s 420 and on, deals with medical marijuana in our state.
If you have an ounce and a half or less of marijuana on you, and you can state a medical condition and you don’t have your card, then it’s not the same as just having marijuana on you. If you are found in possession of marijuana, charged with possession of a controlled, dangerous substance under Title 63 2-402, you’re looking at a year in county jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
Now, you’re probably going to get some type of probation, but the court could sentence you technically up to a year and/or that $1,000 fine. So you could be looking at a year and $1,000 if they just wanted to throw the book at you.
Now, the difference between that and having a card and just not having it on you is if you can state that medical condition, it’s an ounce and a half or less marijuana on you, and you can do that to the officer, then instead of getting this misdemeanor, year, $1,000, all you’re looking at is a $400 fine.
And even better on that, if the officer believes you are who you say you are, meaning you have some form of ID on you or can prove yourself to them in some way, then the rest of the statute goes on to say that they can’t arrest you, that it’s a shell issue, a citation, and release you on personal recognizance.
That means it’s just like a traffic ticket. They give you a ticket, you sign the ticket saying you’re going to be at court, that you swear you’ll be there, and then they drive off, you drive off.
So it’s a little, it’s actually a lot, different. You’re not looking at bonding out of jail. You’re not looking at going to jail. If you’re in a vehicle, you’re not looking at having your vehicle towed and having to pay impound fees. So it’s a much different situation than if you were charged with just a regular possession of a controlled, dangerous substance.
If you find yourself having some questions about any of the new criminal laws around drug possession or any other criminal law, then please give us a call. We can help, talk you through your situation, see what all’s going on, maybe explain some of it to you. Or you can also go on our website, TahlequahAttorney.com. Send us a web form. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you.
