House Bill 1393 of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania would legalize pot. Currently, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Arizona permits doctors to prescribe marijuana.
Obviously, in order to become law, some form of the bill must pass through both houses of the General Assembly and the governor must sign the bill into law. We are a long way away.
Under HB 1393, the possessor of the weed for medical purposes will be required to register, get a registration card, and may not possess more then the amount allowed by law, nor more then the amount of live plants permitted by law.
The real question I had was whether the possession of marijuana would still give the police probable cause? In other words, if a person is sitting on their front step toking away on a big fat blunt and have their state pot card around their neck, can the cops: stop, frisk, search, arrest, detain, etc.?
The only part of the proposed new law that addresses that question reads as follows, "Possession of, or application for, a registry identification card shall not alone constitute probable cause to search a person or property of a person possessing or applying for the registry identification card or otherwise subject the person or his property to inspection by any governmental agency."
This doesn't say much. I will update this post as we move forward.Labels: legalization of marijuna, legalize marijuana, marijuana, pot, weed