[CO] DA Says Pot And Parole Dont Mix

GreenSurfer

Well-Known Member
As a lawsuit continues and medical marijuana moratoriums are imposed across Arapahoe County, District Attorney Carol Chambers has announced she intends to revoke the probation of any person caught smoking marijuana for any reason.

In a letter to Robin Leaf, chief probation officer in the 18th Judicial District, Chambers said her policy would stand even if a judge has approved marijuana use for a person with a state-issued medical-marijuana card.

“We are taking the position that people who use medical marijuana while on probation are in violation of federal law,” the prosecutor wrote. “... A state judge cannot change federal law and a violation of federal law is a violation of probation.”

Although Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2000 allowing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, its use for any reason remains a violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act.



“Obviously, we do not make the laws. We only enforce them and we cannot pick and choose which ones we enforce ...,” Chambers wrote. “When we get a case where this is an issue, we will take the ruling up with the Court of Appeals so that we can get some clarification.”

Chambers’s announcement comes as the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries has become an issue across Colorado.

Arapahoe County and many area cities, including Littleton and Englewood, have passed temporary moratoriums on new dispensaries in hopes that clarity on the legal ambiguity of medical marijuana will soon come from the Colorado General Assembly or the U.S. Congress.

Centennial is in the midst of a lawsuit from a dispensary it recently closed on the grounds that the city’s land-development code prohibits any land use that violates state or federal law.

During a recent hearing in that case, Judge Christopher Cross read a memo from Chambers indicating that she would be monitoring court transcripts as evidence for potential prosecutions.

Cross warned medical marijuana users who testified that they were potentially incriminating themselves and were free to exercise their Fifth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Although marijuana is against federal law, the U.S. Justice Department has said prosecuting medical-marijuana patients in the 14 states that allow such use is a low priority.
 
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