{"id":112356,"date":"2015-05-19T18:34:40","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T00:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/marijuana-smoking-is-illegal-in-federal-preserves\/"},"modified":"2015-05-19T18:34:40","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T00:34:40","slug":"marijuana-smoking-is-illegal-in-federal-preserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/marijuana-smoking-is-illegal-in-federal-preserves\/","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana smoking is illegal in federal preserves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tourists beware: Possession of marijuana is legal in Colorado, but it remains forbidden on federal land. Since legalization, rangers at Mesa Verde National Park are encountering more visitors who are in possession of marijuana. \"Not knowing the law, obviously, is not an excuse,\" Mesa Verde Chief Ranger Jessie Farias said.
Tourists beware: Possession of marijuana is legal in Colorado, but it remains forbidden on federal land. Since legalization, rangers at Mesa Verde National Park are encountering more visitors who are in possession of marijuana. \"Not knowing the law, obviously, is not an excuse,\" Mesa Verde Chief Ranger Jessie Farias said.<\/span>Steve Lewis\/Durango Herald file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Possession of marijuana is legal in Colorado, but it remains forbidden on federal land, a situation that has tripped up unaware pot enthusiasts.<\/p>\n

Federal land surrounds the Durango area, from Mesa Verde National Park to Purgatory Resort to the Weminuche Wilderness Area.<\/p>\n

To be clear, bringing marijuana or marijuana-laced products onto federal land in Colorado is banned, forbidden, prohibited, proscribed, verboten \u2013 don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

Since legalization, rangers at Mesa Verde National Park are encountering more visitors who are in possession of marijuana, said Mesa Verde Chief Ranger Jessie Farias.<\/p>\n

Some marijuana possessors who are caught say they were unaware of the rules, Farias said. Others admit they were willing to take the chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot knowing the law, obviously, is not an excuse,\u201d Farias said.<\/p>\n

Small amounts of marijuana earn a ticket that totals about $125 with court fees. Amounts more than an ounce bring a more serious offense, Farias said.<\/p>\n

Mesa Verde is considering putting a sign near the park entrance reminding visitors that pot remains illegal on federal land. Farias said Colorado National Monument in Fruita posted a no-marijuana sign, but it was stolen within a few hours.<\/p>\n

Farias said rangers have reached out to local dispensaries to spread the word. It\u2019s more difficult to explain Colorado\u2019s legal situation to tourists.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times, it isn\u2019t the Colorado folks,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the folks visiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mesa Verde is one of Southwest Colorado\u2019s top tourist attractions, with more than 500,000 visitors last year.<\/p>\n

Brian Schowalter, a Durango defense attorney, said federal law enforcement has shown no leniency since Colorado voters approved Amendment 64.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feds, they take their power, they take their territorial jurisdiction very seriously,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Schowalter cautioned against bringing edible marijuana products onto federal land. Law enforcement will weigh the entire edible, and if it exceeds an ounce, that can result in a serious charge. So a single chocolate bar that contains THC could land an unwitting user deep in the weeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll threaten my clients with a felony,\u201d Schowalter said.<\/p>\n

More broadly, he said, federal law enforcement continues to fight the war on drugs as if Amendment 64 never happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the frontline level, they\u2019re not conceding,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not taking cues from society.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Purgatory, marijuana is prohibited anywhere at the resort, including in lift lines and aboard chairlifts, at the base area and in lodging, spokeswoman Kim Oyler said.<\/p>\n

Amendment 64 prohibits marijuana use in public places, including all of Purgatory. Meanwhile, smoking of any kind is banned in Purgatory\u2019s lodging rooms, Oyler said. Warnings are posted at the base area and in information given to lodging guests.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur primary focus is to educate our guests about the law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

a no-no at Mesa Verde, Purgatory, Weminuche<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6371],"tags":[168,13,135,173,199,1924],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-112356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mt-news","tag-crime","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-marijuana","tag-mesa-verde-national-park","tag-san-juan-national-forest","tag-weminuche-wilderness"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112356","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=112356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112356"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=112356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}