Marijuana possession Illegal in California?

2009.04.27

California has some of the most relaxed government laws about marijuana possession yet to them it is still an illegal substance. There is no prison time given or criminal record for first-time possession for personal consumption. Amount and location were the two main factors for marijuana possession. Possession of plenty of amounts of marijuana is not and arrestable offenses for as long as you are capable to provide satisfactory identification and promise to appear in court. If the school is in session and you have less than 28. 5 grams on school ground, you will be subjected for fine and 10 days in prison. Possession of over 28.5 grams is no longer considered for personal use and the penalties become severe quite rapidly. It can land you up to six months in prison regardless of where you are. However, this will only be considered misdemeanors. Selling marijuana in any amount is a serious offense in California and carries a 2-4 year sentence in a state prison (or 3-5 years if the sale is to a minor). 

The most serious offense is the cultivation of marijuana or cannabis. This will result in 16-36 month sentence and a felony conviction in California. However, medical practitioners or caregivers who are growing medical marijuana are exempted from this rule with doctors’ documentation. California has admission laws that allow the cultivation of Marijuana for medicinal purposes. However the federal government still considers it strictly illegal and allows no medical exception. This has developed into an awkward situation to both the state and federal governments. Several people are possibly working for the state to legally grow marijuana for medical patients. With regards to the situation, regular police will not indeed arrest you. But because you are disobeying federal law, federal agent like the FBI can arrest and charge you with extremely serious crimes. Federal rules can get you life in prison if you are producing great amount of marijuana for the city.

Even though the federal prosecutions for marijuana possession and cultivation make up less than 1% of all convictions, it is still a constant danger to anyone working in these fields. In early case, the judged declines to allow the defendant to even tell the jury that he was working for the city when he was arrested. This is why it is very important to hire a good criminal attorney if you have been subjected with any sort of marijuana crime in California. The intricate nature of opposing laws makes it all the more important that you have someone on your side who knows best on how to defend you in legal cases.

One more concern, people who are found to be arrested from driving under the influence of marijuana may be required to submit a urine blood sample from the laboratory. Since it is detectable for much longer periods in urine than in blood, a positive urine test constitutes much less proof of contemporary use and impairment than a positive blood test. You are better off to choose a blood test if you haven't smoked marijuana recently since you will probably pass it. More or less if you are a chronic smoker or have smoked recently, you are better off to choose a urine test; even though you can expect to test positive, the question will at least remain open as to whether you were actually under the influence at time of arrest.