You’re driving down the road, and your best friend is riding shotgun. After driving for a while, your friend pulls out a blunt and lights up. You aren’t sure about the legality of smoking while in a moving vehicle, but you don’t want to be a buzzkill. Unfortunately, 10 minutes later you drive right past a cop who sees your friend smoking. You get pulled over, but what happens next? Will your friend get in trouble even though he wasn’t driving? Will you get in trouble even though you weren’t smoking?
Legality of Smoking & Driving
In Colorado, smoking Marijuana is only legal on private property or in hotels that permit the use of marijuana. When taking this law and applying it to the streets, that means smoking while in a vehicle on public property is illegal. Therefore, if you are smoking on your street in your car, you are not smoking in a legal area.
Applying this law to the situation with your friend; the police would be within their rights to charge him for illegal use of marijuana. Even though your friend wasn’t driving the vehicle, he was smoking on public property (public roadways are public property). Therefore, your friend broke marijuana-usage laws and could be charged as a result.
Can You Be Charged?
So, your friend can be charged, but can you face the same consequences? The Colorado government website states, “you can be charged with a traffic offense if the marijuana product seal has been broken, some of the product has been consumed, and there’s evidence that it was used in the car.” All that to say, cops may charge you for using while driving based on the fact that your friend was using, which to the police, suggests you were as well. If you find yourself in such a situation, consulting a lawyer for drug trafficking charges defense could be a crucial step to protect your rights.
Hire Representation Immediately
Although marijuana is legal in Colorado, marijuana-related criminal convictions are still possible! If you or a loved one are charged for illegal use of marijuana, contact attorney Kevin Cahill immediately.
Call (720) 445-9887 now for a free consultation for your case!