Thursday, May 12, 2005

Marijuana Laws

Today I noticed a blog mentioned marijuana enforcement in a posting 26 Million Joints". I've been a critic for many years of the the War on Drugs. Now as a lawyer I frequently represent defendants on marijuana charges. The most common in New York is "Unlawful Possession of Marijuana" (UPM). It is a very low level offense. The fine and surcharge is usually about $200.

The most common way this comes up is when someone is pulled over for speeding, and then the cop finds marijuana in the car. We can usually get a plea bargain where the driver pleads to UPM and the speed is dropped. This is a very good deal because the UPM does not affect your license.

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