{"id":111623,"date":"2015-06-22T18:16:17","date_gmt":"2015-06-23T00:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/medical-marijuana-law-hazy-for-those-on-probation\/"},"modified":"2015-06-22T18:16:17","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T00:16:17","slug":"medical-marijuana-law-hazy-for-those-on-probation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/medical-marijuana-law-hazy-for-those-on-probation\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical marijuana law hazy for those on probation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\u201cIt
\u201cIt might be some growing pains,\u201d said Jon Sarch\u00e9, spokesman for the Colorado Judicial Branch. \u201cIt\u2019s still brand new, and our probation officers out in the field are getting used to it. If any problems do crop up, we will work to rectify them.\u201d<\/span>Ed Andrieski\/Associated Press file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DENVER \u2013 A new Colorado law that allows people on probation to use medical marijuana has proven difficult to implement.<\/p>\n

Since the law took effect May 8, probation departments have reported \u201cgrowing pains.\u201d The new statute states that for most probation sentences, the possession or use of medical marijuana no longer is a violation.<\/p>\n

Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, who sponsored the legislation that passed the Legislature this year, said he has been receiving reports that despite the new law, some on probation still are being threatened with violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been blowing up my phone, both here and at my law office, about the fact that they are card-carrying medical marijuana users, they\u2019re on probation, they started to use their medical marijuana, and probation officers are saying that they are in violation of the law,\u201d said Salazar, a civil-rights attorney.<\/p>\n

For its part, the Colorado Division of Probation Services acknowledged that direction has been needed. The division recently issued protocols to judicial districts across the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be some growing pains,\u201d said Jon Sarch\u00e9, spokesman for the Colorado Judicial Branch. \u201cIt\u2019s still brand new, and our probation officers out in the field are getting used to it. If any problems do crop up, we will work to rectify them.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a bit complicated is that the statute allows for a court to prohibit someone on probation from using medical marijuana if it determines that necessary to accomplish sentencing goals in the case.<\/p>\n

Probation offices across the state have responded by notifying the courts when someone has been identified as a medical-marijuana patient. That person is allowed to use medical marijuana until the probation office hears otherwise from the courts.<\/p>\n

In La Plata County and the entire 6th Judicial District, the issue has yet to come up. Tom Harms, chief probation officer for the district, said his office has not had to refer any medical marijuana users to the courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m anticipating that to come, it\u2019s just that we don\u2019t have the volume as a lot of the metro areas do,\u201d Harms said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re kind of curious ourselves, but I think the state has given us some very good, appropriate guidelines to go off of right now on this whole process,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a new law, and I think \u2026 there are so many different scenarios and situations where we\u2019re tying to anticipate a lot of those and ask as many questions as we can and try to get everything cleaned up before it even happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

For counties in more populated areas of the state, the issue has been tough to grapple with. But chief probation officers appear to be learning as they go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely been a lot of questions asked pertaining to the new law; we now have information statewide we hope that\u2019s consistent,\u201d said Ellen Walker, chief probation officer for the Fourth Judicial District, including El Paso County.<\/p>\n

Salazar highlighted Weld, El Paso, Pueblo and Arapahoe counties. But chief probation officers there say they have new directives and will investigate any reports that come to light.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had heard at one time from the state that Weld County was brought up,\u201d said Jerry Green, chief probation officer for the 19th Judicial District, including Weld County. \u201cWhat I asked is that if we get brought up in the future, that they provide me with the name of the probation officer, that way I can investigate if there is any issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to make a decision,\u201d he said. \u201cIf a person produces a medical marijuana license, they\u2019re allowed to use it \u2026 unless the court comes back to us \u2026 and states \u2018no.\u2019 We\u2019re out of the decision-making, as we should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salazar is optimistic that probation offices seriously are examining concerns in order to properly implement the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just rolled out a month ago,\u201d he said. \u201cI understand it\u2019s going to take some time to educate probation officers as to what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

pmarcus@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supervisors getting used to the rule<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[94,3929],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-111623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-gays-and-lesbians"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111623"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=111623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}