The Colorado legislature will become the eighth state to implement legislation protecting medical marijuana users from state criminal penalties. The new law, which takes effect tomorrow, allows state-registered patients to possess up to two ounces of marijuana and/or six plants. Seventy patients have already applied for the state exemption.
The legislature is the first to implement such a law since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March that parties who grow or distribute marijuana may not raise the defense of medical necessity under federal law.
However, after reviewing the Court’s decision, state Attorney General Ken Salazar concluded, “The Supreme Court’s ruling does not invalidate Colorado’s state law … [nor] … does [it] prevent the state from moving forward to meet the requirements of Colorado’s constitutional amendment concerning the medical use of marijuana.”
Fifty-four percent of voters approved the amendment last November.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-8751.
