ARAPAHOE DA TARGETS PROBATIONERS USING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers has told the 18th
Judicial District probation department that she intends to revoke the
probation of any person caught smoking medical marijuana, even if a
judge approved it.

In a Dec. 14 e-mail to Chief Probation officer Robin Leaf, Chambers wrote:

"We are taking the position that people who use medical marijuana
while on probation are in violation of federal law and must be
revoked. That is true even if a judge is telling them it is not. A
state judge cannot change federal law and a violation of federal law
is a violation of probation.

"Obviously, we do not make the laws, we only enforce them and we
cannot pick and chose (sic) which ones we enforce and which ones we
do not. When we get a case where this is an issue, we will take the
ruling up to the Court of Appeals so that we can get some
clarification. I think the sooner we can do this, the better."

Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said, through a spokeswoman,
that his department is working with the courts to determine a policy
about probationers and medical marijuana. In the meantime, he said
each case will be decided individually. He added that no one admitted
in Drug Court will be allowed to use medical marijuana.