Legal Commentary

CO and Medical Marijuana : The New Police State

By Jeralyn

The Wall St. Journal reports on new regulations Colorado lawmakers are putting the final touches on, for medical marijuana:

The regulatory system — more rigorous and comprehensive than in any other state — will likely require pot growers to place tags on every plant and train security cameras on their cultivation rooms around the clock.

...Cannabis dispensaries, meanwhile, will likely be required to record high-resolution video of every customer's face and photo identification and then link that footage to a computer record of each purchase. Even the moment when the dried weed is weighed for sale will have to be captured on video, according to draft regulations now being finalized.

Cops can demand to see the tapes at any time, without a warrant.

"We don't ask. We just go look," said Matt Cook, senior director of the state's medical-marijuana enforcement division...."You give up a lot of your Fourth Amendment rights when you're dealing with a controlled substance," Mr. Cook said.

[More...]

Colorado has 113,000 registered medical marijuana users.

So far, 1,218 pot farms, 808 dispensaries and 318 businesses that infuse candy, olive oils, pizzas and other edibles with marijuana have applied for state licenses. Every facet of their operations will soon be governed by the new regulations, which run about 100 pages and are likely to be phased in beginning early next year.

Stupid is as stupid does. All this will do is drive medical marijuana users back to the illegal market. I hope someone brings a constitutional challenge and obtains an injunction preventing these rules from taking effect.

Colorado's medical marijuana law was passed as a constitutional amendment, not a statute. The protections of the Fourth Amendment apply to everyone. No one should be forced to exercise one constitutional right at the expense of another. And medical marijuana patients should have the same privacy rights as those who use other medicines.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 22, 2010 (boomark / email).