Question: Do you have holiday safety tips for medical marijuana patients?
Answer: Remember there are many aspects to staying safe.
- When traveling around the state only take the medicine you need while away from home.
- If you obtained your marijuana at a dispensary keep it in the original package when possible. If your container has more than what you need while away from home leave some of the medicine at home. Remember registered patients can obtain marijuana from another registered patient so there may not be a labeled dispensary package and that is legal.
- Be respectful when visiting family and friends. If you need to use your marijuana medicine at someone’s house, ask their permission as they have a right to say no. You could also try more discrete ways such as gummies, tinctures, skin rubs, vaping, rather than smoking.
- Remember when you mix alcohol with marijuana in any form both substances become more potent as they both process through the liver together. You do not want to spend the holidays hugging the porcelain throne.
- Registered patients can have marijuana they use as medicine in their pocket, purse, car, or anywhere they deem safe, at home or while traveling by car. Arizona does not have a law that states it must be in a lock box stored in your trunk, California has that law, not Arizona. It is a good safety measure if you are the driver to have your medicine out of arm’s length.
- There are no states with medical or adult use marijuana programs that allow interstate travel across state lines. You can be charged with smuggling a controlled substance and for any paraphernalia including the container. If you are leaving state this holiday season the only safe way to travel is to purchase HEMP products. Make certain your package or container clearly states HEMP. Hemp is legal across stateliness with few exceptions, Idaho, Nebraska, and South Dakota do not allow hemp CBD.
- Remember if you are going to be in a National Forrest or on Native American land, they do not always recognize your STATE issued medical marijuana card.
- Airport TSA are not police. However, if they find marijuana in your carryon baggage, they have a duty to confiscate and report it to police, again smuggling.
Wondering where the American Disability Act “Reasonable accommodations for the disabled” plays into your defense? Perhaps discrimination is at play while we can travel with opioids and narcotics, not plant based medicine? You will need to inquire with an attorney.
President Lincoln wrote: “Prohibition… goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation an makes crime out of things that are not crimes… A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principals upon which our government was founded.
Have a safe and blessed holiday season! Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year.
Submitted by MJ Consulting LLC as information not legal or medical advice. Our Holiday office hours are closed December 24-29 reopening Dec. 30 & 31, Closed New Year day.
8540 E. State Rt. 69, Prescott Valley, AZ 928-772-2011.