Escapees March-April 2019 Vol 40 Issue 5

If full-time RVers, such as Tom and Donna, brought marijuana with them to Montana, the next attorney general could prosecute them under federal drug laws for possession of a Schedule 1 drug. This is the highest category of the Drug Enforcement Administration, with a minimum of one year in jail and a fine of $1,000 for the first offense.     Today, medical marijuana is legal in Montana. However, to legally

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have it in your possession, you must have the proper prescription. Doctors cannot prescribe an illegal

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State Cannabis Programs 

drug, but they can “recommend” it and pro- vide you with a registration card. Although the Montana Medical Marijuana Act was revised in 2017, if Tom and Donna, who live in Oregon, claim they use marijuana for medicinal reasons only, it would be difficult to prove that it met the Montana standard. If caught in the state with the drug in any form, you could face a criminal charge. In Montana, it is still illegal to be in possession of recreational marijuana, and you could face a fine of $500 and six months in jail. Let’s say Tom and Donna then travel across Idaho, back to Washington, then on to Oregon. In Idaho, if they are pulled over for any reason and Idaho police find marijua- na in any form, it would be illegal, and they could face either a misdemeanor or felony charges. They could also face drug traffick- ing charges, a serious federal offense. (In this scenario, they could hire a local defense attorney. There are search and seizure rules prohibiting the police from searching your vehicle unless they have “probable cause.” Having an Oregon license plate while driving in Idaho, for example, is certainly not enough cause for a vehicle to be searched.) Luckily, Tom and Donna make it back to Washington and then Oregon without incident. Since their home is their RV, they need to be extra careful to treat marijuana as they would alcohol. They should never have open containers while they are driving or drive under the influence. They must also never have more than the maximum that is allowed under each state’s laws.

   Next, Tom and Donna decide to enter Canada in their RV. The U.S./Canadian border is patrolled by federal agents, so they must not have any form of marijuana in their possession. Their potential arrest could be catastrophic. However, once they arrived in Canada, things would get easier. Canada passed The Cannabis Act of June 2018, which became effective October 17, 2018. Although each province still legislates the details about how much, and at what age, one can possess, recreational and medicinal possession of marijuana is legal throughout the country. Tom and Donna can be worry-free all the way to Alaska, where recreational and medicinal marijuana is also legal.     After returning to the U.S., again without any marijuana in their possession at the border, Tom and Donna can continue to travel without worry to California and Nevada, where marijuana is legal for recreation or medicinal use. Trouble will begin again in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, where only medicinal marijuana is legal and under the same constraints as in Montana. The same is true in North Dakota. However, if they choose to venture even further into the Midwest to Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin, marijuana is strictly

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   