In this video, Dean Contover and Attorney Mike Bowser discuss cannabis and medical cards, and what to do if you’re stopped by a police officer while possessing cannabis.
What Happens if You Are Stopped by Police and You Have a Medical Card
Dean Contover: Cannabis. People are allowed to smoke cannabis medical, and they have to carry a card with them. What happens if they get stopped and they were smoking cannabis and they have their medical card?
Mike Bowser: The officer will want to see the medical card and if they do, in fact, have a medical card . . .. First of all, possession of less than one ounce of marijuana in the Commonwealth is not a crime. It’s a civil infraction, so they will write a citation. That citation will ask the person to pay a fine to whatever municipality that they’re in. That’s the consequence of possession of less than an ounce. Used to be a crime, but they have decriminalized it.
If you have a medical marijuana card, then you’re obviously entitled to be in possession and to be using the drug as well. It’s not a criminal act to even to be smoking pot if you have the medical marijuana card. New Hampshire, ironically, doesn’t have that law. You can’t drive up to New Hampshire with your marijuana and expect to get the same treatment by the law enforcement community of New Hampshire. They will treat it as a crime.
Dean Contover: Oh, I see.
Mike Bowser: The fact that Massachusetts has decriminalized possession of less than one ounce does not mean that you can leave the state, go to New Hampshire, or Maine, or other places, where it’s still a crime.
