Should Colorado have to pay for neighboring state's marijuana prohibition?

[Torie]

Option 3. Anyway, what the sheriff's want, is not what they will get. F them.

You know, in many places the cops don't enforce the pot laws. Why? It is a matter of priorities. Here in Hudson, you won't get arrested unless you have pot on you when arrested for something else, or smoke dope in public. It may be that the sheriffs involved really don't have enough to do, so they are left handing out tickets and looking for pot. Just how they arrest many folks with pot also escapes me, inasmuch as you need probable cause to stop a car, and then you need probable cause to search it as well. That should not happen much unless you are smoking pot in the car.

Writing this, I realize their rap does not hang together at all. They are, well, not to put too fine a point on it, blowing smoke. It's probably time to cull their ranks is my little policy suggestion.

[Torie]

The problem is many of these sheriff's departments are defining "probably cause" as "has a Colorado license plate". Considering how easy it is to transport marijuana and not get caught, I doubt the increased arrests are all solely due to the greater supply. That's basically why the whole bit about the sheriff's departments not making the laws doesn't really hold up. For comparison Pennsylvania gun laws are far more lax than in New Jersey or New York, but that doesn't mean police in those states constantly pull over and search Pennsylvania cars and assume all are carrying guns.

I take your point, but that dog just isn't going to hunt in court.

[Torie]

The problem is many of these sheriff's departments are defining "probably cause" as "has a Colorado license plate". Considering how easy it is to transport marijuana and not get caught, I doubt the increased arrests are all solely due to the greater supply. That's basically why the whole bit about the sheriff's departments not making the laws doesn't really hold up. For comparison Pennsylvania gun laws are far more lax than in New Jersey or New York, but that doesn't mean police in those states constantly pull over and search Pennsylvania cars and assume all are carrying guns.

I take your point, but that dog just isn't going to hunt in court.

No but driving "erratically" or "looked like he wasn't wearing a seatbelt" will. It's not probable cause to search the car though. Can saying they smelt marijuana constitute probable cause to search the car?

Sure, if it is believed by the trier of fact that such smell was extant in the air.