The California Highway Patrol (CHP) unveiled its new procedures for handling medical cannabis, thanks to legal action by a patient advocacy organization.

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) found that one-quarter of all California medical cannabis arrests and seizures had been by CHP officers. Now a suit filed against them by ASA for failure to uphold state law has resulted in a fundamental change in how officers are ordered to treat patients and caregivers.

The CHP agreed to stop taking cannabis from qualified patients and primary caregivers in routine traffic stops. On Aug. 22, CHP instructed its officers not to cite motorists with a valid state or local government medical marijuana ID card or a physician-signed recommendation, nor to seize their cannabis if they carry up to eight ounces of marijuana and six mature or 12 immature plants. Those are the minimum amounts set in state law.

It took CHP almost two years to act on a state law that was enacted in 2003.

Long-simmering conflict

After Proposition 215 was passed by state voters, the CHP and various other law enforcement agencies refused to recognize the HS 11362.5 medical exception to California's marijuana laws. They continued to act as if all cannabis were illegal.

On February 15, 2005, ASA filed a group lawsuit against the CHP on behalf of six medical marijuana patients and caregivers who had their legitimately possessed marijuana seized by the CHP under a policy of mandatory confiscation. The lawsuit argued that the policy was illegal under California’s constitution, under which state law enforcement is compelled to uphold state law, including the state law allowing medical marijuana possession by qualified patients and caregivers.

The August memo 'CHP HPM 100.69, Chapter 1, Controlled Substances Arrests, Revised 8/22/05' changed its policy to officially recognize the rights of lawful patients under state law. This is one of the biggest victories for patients and caregivers in California since voters approved the Compassionate Use Act in 1996, and a legal victory particularly welcomed by California advocates since the US Supreme Court ruled in June that state-legal medical marijuana patients can still be arrested and prosecuted by federal officials. To see more details on ASA’s lawsuit, copies of the old and new CHP policies, and plaintiff biographies, see http://www.safeaccessnow.org.

The right to remain silent

Marijuana attorney Omar Figueroa urged patients nonetheless to be cautious when they interact with the CHP and to give them the minimum of information.

'Police officers are skeptical by training and always looking to advance their careers by maximizing their arrests and convictions. Remember: don't waive your Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, or your Sixth Amendment right to an attorney during questioning,' Figueroa suggested. 'Don't say anything more than you're a medical cannabis patient and/or caregiver, and let your document (whether a card, recommendation or approval) speak for itself.'

'Stand up for your rights!'