Police and deputies now enforcing new Arizona laws

CBS 13's Cody Lee tells you how to avoid a ticket, or even worse

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - It's been a week since these laws went into effect and officers are beefing up enforcement. Recreational marijuana is now legal and texting and driving have started being enforced statewide.

As far as the new pot law goes, adults 21 and older can now possess one ounce of marijuana for personal use in the grand canyon state.

If you have a medical marijuana card, the amount goes up to 2.5 ounces.

Law enforcement says if you are planning on smoking marijuana, It's best to do it at home since smoking in a public place could lead to a fine.

Last year, officers issued 130 standalone charges of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Sgt. Lori Franklin is the public information officer at Yuma Police Department (YPD).

“There's the same kind of signals between drinking or being under the influence of drugs because you know your prescription pain meds you cannot be under the influence of that driving and hard narcotics. You have driving abilities if you're driving all over the place, you're not using turn signals you're not stopping. You're doing other things that alert the officer to something is wrong. They're gonna pull you over,” Sgt. Franklin explained.

With more changes on the roadways, the grace period on Arizona's distracted driving law has ended.

This means not much has changed for residents in the cities of Yuma and San Luis.

Meanwhile, in county limits, Yuma county sheriff’s deputies have been issuing warnings during the grace period but have now started issuing citations. The same goes for folks in the city of Wellton.

According to YCSO, it will be treated the same as any other civil traffic violation.