Summer is the season of vacations and road trips. People will often fly or drive across the country, taking advantage of the break from school to have family vacations. College students may also take temporary jobs in other states or just spend their summers traveling since they’re out of school.
One change that has been happening in the United States lately is that states have begun legalizing marijuana products for recreational use. This used to be a rather fringe rule, confined to places like Washington or Colorado. But the change has taken hold, and now roughly half of the states in the U.S. allow for recreational purchases. Typically, this means that people need to be over 21 years old.
What does this mean for your vacation?
This could mean that you end up traveling with marijuana products in your possession. You may have purchased them completely legally. Perhaps you bought them at a dispensary near home. Maybe you flew to Colorado or drove to Michigan. Regardless of where you purchased those products, you went to a dispensary and followed all the local laws to make a legal purchase.
But the problem is that crossing state lines is still illegal. If you drive into a state where recreational marijuana is still prohibited, you could be arrested on those grounds. If you try to fly or cross state lines, you could find yourself facing federal marijuana charges.
In other words, there are still many different ways to be arrested for marijuana offenses, and this has become more complex because states no longer have uniform laws. It’s important to know how the laws are changing and to understand your legal options if you’re facing criminal charges.