Arizona court rules no medical pot immunity in parked cars
Arizona’s medical marijuana law doesn’t allow smoking the drug in public places and a court ruling says people with state-issued cards entitling them to use cannabis don’t have immunity in a car in a parking lot.
The Arizona Court of Appeals ruling Thursday affirms misdemeanor convictions of two people caught smoking marijuana inside a car parked near a Mesa music festival.
The court rejected the argument by Matthew and Elena Tagge that their medical-marijuana cards provided immunity from prosecution and said they ceded their immunity by smoking marijuana in a public place.
One judge on the panel cautioned that immunity still applies to a cardholder in a place that is traditionally private, such as a closed bedroom of a mobile home parked in a public lot.
