Marijuana OK in California, but not here

New law creates issues with federal agents too

With the new year, California joined a short but growing list of states that have legalized recreational marijuana. But that doesn’t mean recreational marijuana is legal here.

Despite Yuma’s proximity to California, pot remains illegal here, except for those with medicinal marijuana cards.

Now, anyone can go to California and purchase marijuana, but those purchases must remain in the state. They cannot be taken across state lines.

And according to a recent Associated Press story, marijuana will still be illegal at Border Patrol checkpoints in California.

Federal law still classifies marijuana as a controlled substance. Because Border Patrol agents are federal law enforcement officers, they uphold federal law, which in turn means issuing citations for offenses, regardless of state law.

That’s where the recreational marijuana law will get interesting in California. Federal law and state law are colliding on a new level. Border Patrol agents are tasked with finding illegal drugs, preventing their spread and distribution through America.

And while there is an arguable difference between state-sanctioned possession and drug trafficking, a trained drug-detection dog doesn’t know the difference. To the dog, a drug is a drug. And under federal law, possession of marijuana is still illegal.

Border Patrol’s reach extends up to 100 miles from the Mexico border, and Yuma drivers who have traveled to San Diego are well familiar with the checkpoints along Interstate 8.

Ultimately, the new legalization in California could create issues for both drivers and agents at those checkpoints. Each time a detection dog raises an alert, that car has to go to secondary. With legalization, that could lead to many more alerts, creating more work for agents and potentially longer waits at checkpoints for drivers.

The AP reports that in some cases of minor possession, agents simply issued a warning, seized the marijuana and released the driver. In other cases, drivers are released after being photographed and fingerprinted, but not always charged with a crime. However, one has to ask: is it worth the risk? If you choose to go to California and purchase marijuana, it’s legal to so. But don’t bring it home to Arizona. And carefully think about it before driving through any of the checkpoints with marijuana in your vehicle.