While recreational marijuana has been legal in Colorado for several years, if you are taking your first vacation to the state, then you need to know what the law allows you to to do and not do after you choose to use cannabis. Since marijuana can impair your judgement, it is also important to know what to do if you get yourself in any legal hot water while in possession of the substance or after using it. Read on to learn important facts you need to know about Colorado's marijuana laws and what to do.
Colorado Laws About Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana
If you plan to drive to Colorado or rent a vehicle to drive in the state after flying in, then it is very important that you learn how you can indulge in marijuana while staying safe on the road. Just as there is a legal limit to the amount of alcohol that you can have in your bloodstream while driving, there is a law in Colorado regarding how much THC you can have in your bloodstream while operating a motor vehicle legally.
In 2013, the Colorado courts decided that any driver with 5 nanograms or more of THC in their bloodstream is considered to be operating a vehicle while impaired.
Currently, there is no approved roadside test that police officers can use to measure blood THC levels on-the-spot after a person is pulled over for suspicion of driving under the influence. Instead, police officers base who they arrest on suspicion of driving under impairment of marijuana by "observed impairment," and this typically involves simply looking at you, analyzing your speech pattern, and conducting a field sobriety test.
In Colorado, it is also illegal for a passenger in a vehicle to smoke, vaporize, or consume marijuana in any other fashion while on a public road, so keep that in mind.
Colorado Laws About Possession of Marijuana & Paraphernalia in a Motor Vehicle
Colorado also has "open container" laws regarding marijuana. If marijuana is present in a car, it is legal as long as it is in a completely sealed package that has never been opened. However, it is illegal to have a package of marijuana that has a broken seal in a vehicle while driving, whether it is currently being consumed or not.
However, according to Colorado law, it is legal to transport marijuana accessories (paraphernalia) in a vehicle as long as they are completely free of any marijuana residue.
What to Do if You Are Pulled Over for Suspected Driving While Impaired
It is very important for your safety and the safety of others to never drive while under the influence of marijuana. THC stays in your bloodstream for up to seven days, so to stay on the safe side, you should avoid driving at all during a short vacation in Colorado if you do plan to consume marijuana. However, if after consuming it at some point during your vacation, you make a bad judgement call and end up on the road, you need to know what to do after you are pulled over.
Criminal defense lawyers advise that first, you politely decline to participate in any field-side sobriety tests. In addition, if you are pulled over by a state trooper who asks you to submit a saliva sample they can conduct the new test on, also politely refuse this test.
Once you refuse the roadside tests, the officer may let you go, but they may choose to take you into the police station to conduct a THC blood test on you. It's important that you take the THC blood test, because if you refuse that, then your license will automatically be suspended for one year, you will be required to attend substance abuse classes, and after getting your license back, you will be required to have any vehicle you drive equipped with an ignition lock that only allows you to start the vehicle after blowing into a built-in breathalyzer.
Once your THC blood test is taken, you may find out that you were under the legal limit, which means you will be free to go, or that your test reveals that you have over 5 nanograms of THC in your bloodstream. It is very important that you do not tell the police officers or anyone at the station that you smoked, vaporized, or consumed marijuana at any time.
The first phone call you should make before speaking to anyone is a call to a good criminal defense attorney. You can answer any question they ask you honestly, because they are on your side.
Due to the fact that THC stays in your bloodstream for so long and that you can accidentally inhale marijuana smoke when in the presence of others smoking it, many criminal defense attorneys will use these facts to convince a prosecutor that you were not truly impaired while driving. There is also continuing controversy surrounding the 5 nanogram THC blood limit, because it has led to many arrests of people who were not truly driving while impaired.
Your criminal defense attorney will find a way to get the charges dropped or at least greatly reduced, so your fun vacation doesn't end with you losing your driving privileges and facing hefty fines or jail sentences. To learn more, visit resources like http://www.hartlawofficespc.net.
