Medical Marijuana incident

[TONY CHANEY]

Very interesting thread. Thanks Capt Wasson.

 

[nimoh]

So.... let me get this right. Someone can legally get a prescription for MJ but if they take it on a boat then it's not legal anymore?

R..

Under federal law in the USA, medical MJ is not legal. Some states override this law and make it legal (in that state). It seems weird to me too, and I live here

If you are in a state that has legal medical MJ, and you have a valid prescription, you can't legally take it with you when you drive across a state line, if the state you are entering doesn't have legalized medical MJ

 

[rhwestfall]

and Offshore is "waters of the US" (Federal) or International, and not governed by home rule of States....

 

[diver 85]

Tell him/her to take a flying leap-------right over the pulpit.......with 80 lbs of good weights on(but forget to retrieve the good weights, afterwards).....

 

[rhwestfall]

all I can say is I would be just about violent if someone screwed my vacation up with something like this.....

 

[boulderjohn]

So.... let me get this right. Someone can legally get a prescription for MJ but if they take it on a boat then it's not legal anymore?

I live in a state where Marijuana is legal. Believe me, the complications of having it illegal under federal law and in other states creates a wealth of complications. Frank correctly points out the banking problem--when you have a million dollar industry that can deal only with cash and cannot even create bank accounts, it creates a real problem. Technically, the feds can come in and arrest just about anyone in the state who is using the stuff legally here, but they have said they will not enforce the federal laws in states that have legalized it.

The federal drug laws, by the way, are almost certainly unconstitutional, at least in the spirit of the constitution. The constitution reserves lawmaking in anything not covered by the constitution to the states. When we make federal laws that violate this constitutional provision, we have to do a tap dance around that rule. For example, we have a federal drinking age, but we did it by saying the states could have a different drinking age, but if they do, they don't get federal highway dollars. President Nixon did a similar tap dance with the drug enforcement provision that gave the power to create and enforce drug laws to an agency, not even an elected group.

 

[fisheater]

To be clear, marijuana use and possession is NOT legal anywhere in the U.S. Some states have removed or modified their state laws against the use and possession of marijuana, but it remains illegal under federal law. And federal law applies everywhere.


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[boulderjohn]

To be clear, marijuana use and possession is NOT legal anywhere in the U.S. Some states have removed or modified their state laws against the use and possession of marijuana, but it remains illegal under federal law. And federal law applies everywhere.

But the federal government has said it will not actively enforce those drug laws when states have enacted such laws. I believe that if they tried to enforce federal laws over state objections and created actual conflicts, the result would eventually lead to a court ruling that the federal laws are unconstitutional.

 

[diverdorr68]

If I were a boat Captain and it would cost me my boat, I would not allow it either. I completely understand and respect that policy of any dive center or boat. It's going to take a long time before all the bubbles get rubbed out of this and these are questions still being answered, and probably many years down the list before it will be answered.
This may be the next big thing for scuba divers rights, certainly biggest since diabetes approval. I remember many claiming the sky would fall..
As someone who uses cannabis I would never disrespect, or have a bad word to say about a Captain or dive center that refused me. Same goes for insta-buddies if it would ever arise.

 

[nimoh]

We had our first passenger attempt to bring his medical marijuana onboard recently. He had a prescription, he was vaping it, and he was from a state that allowed medical marijuana. Florida currently does not. The US Coast Guard still treats possession of marijuana as a federal offense, which it is. Any US flagged vessel is regulated by the US Coast Guard. The Coast Guard will seize the vessel and revoke the captain's license if marijuana is found onboard, regardless of whose possession the marijuana is found, or the prescription status of the user.

The captain has power of arrest offshore. To protect my vessel and license, if I find marijuana on my vessel, I will arrest you and turn you over to the Coast Guard for prosecution if you bring dope on my boat. Sorry, but some of us answer to a higher power than the customer.

I don't mean to be obtuse, and I'm asking more out of curiosity since I am not a boat owner, but...

If you found the marijuana, arrested the passenger and turned them over to the coast guard, would you then have immunity for having it on board?

Would it matter if you called the coast guard to tell them of the arrest rather than indicating it at the start of a routine inspection where they likely would have found the marijuana anyway?

It sounds a little excessive to me that you could lose your boat and license for someone sneaking some marijuana aboard. Do you do TSA like inspections on people coming aboard to protect yourself?