Colorado has some of the most well-known marijuana laws in the country, but many people still misunderstand what is legal and what is not. In Denver, adults may legally use marijuana, but the law sets clear limits on possession, cultivation, and public use. Violations can result in serious criminal charges
If you called 911 or otherwise sought emergency help for a friend or someone you happened to be with who appeared to be suffering a drug overdose, do you run the risk of being arrested for your own drug possession and use? In most cases, you don’t. Colorado, like most
The state and federal governments outlawed certain drugs through the course of the 20th century. Fortunately, Colorado has been leading the charge to roll some of those laws back, legalizing marijuana in 2014 and having a more enlightened approach to drug possession and use. The federal has been much slower
Last spring, bill HB 19-1263 was signed and became Colorado law. On March 1st, 2020, the law officially went into effect. HB 19-1263 reclassifies the offense of possession of schedule I or II substances as a level-one drug misdemeanor. Does this mean that if law enforcement pulls you over with
While addiction rates and deaths involving opioids have received the most attention in recent years, methamphetamine has made a sharp comeback in Colorado and the rest of the U.S. over the past decade. One study shows a nearly 130% increase in meth use from 2014 to 2019 across the country.
Individuals and groups across the country that are opposed to marijuana legalization repeatedly voice a similar refrain when they address the relaxed legal regimes operative in an ever-growing number of states. Their dire warnings about liberalized marijuana schemes center around this predominant argument: Decriminalization will spawn a crimewave across multiple
Here’s an answer hint to today’s above-posed blog headline query: It’s not the top-end principals in drug cartels or other highly placed figures of organized crime. Rather, it’s what a recent in-depth online overview of U.S. drug probes and arrests terms “small fish.” It is a vast pool of minnows
Colorado media outlets widely underscored the importance of a particular day late last month. That was May 28. One news source issued a representative comment that the month’s final Tuesday was a truly “significant day for criminal justice reform in Colorado.” That indeed seems to have been the case, as
Colorado criminal law analysts and commentators know just as well as their peers across the country what approaches work and what strategies are failing in the justice system. And they keep shining the spotlight on a particular sentencing outcome that has come in for progressively blistering criticism in recent years.
“Something is going on and I don’t think any of us have the answer.” That is the admittedly unsure response of Colorado criminal justice advocate Christie Donner as to why felony charges being filed by prosecutors are spiking across the state. There is no question that felony charges being levied
