Florida is a very popular tourist destination, especially during the winter. Many people will spend their winters in Florida before flying back north for the summers.
When it comes to marijuana, the laws between states are much different. Those in states like Michigan or Illinois may have recreational marijuana dispensaries. They also know that Florida does allow medical marijuana, so they may decide to bring marijuana products with them when they come to Florida for the winter. Below are two reasons why this shouldn’t be done.
State laws regarding recreational marijuana
First of all, Florida does have medical marijuana laws on the books, but the state has not made recreational marijuana legal at this time. Even a person who legally purchased marijuana in a northern state would be in violation of Florida law when they arrived. In other words, if you were caught with marijuana in Florida and you tried to explain that you legally bought it in Michigan, you could still be arrested because the laws at the point of purchase don’t make a difference.
Federal marijuana laws
The second issue is that there are still federal restrictions in place. Marijuana is illegal at that level, and federal laws take jurisdiction when someone crosses state lines. So a person driving into Florida from another state would first violate federal laws at the border and then violate state laws once they crossed over.
With marijuana laws changing rapidly and becoming different from state to state, this gets quite complex. Those who have been arrested must understand their defense options when facing potential fines or even time behind bars.