When Richard Baird Jr. was pulled over by Indiana State Police in LaGrange County last week with a cereal box full of marijuana in his vehicle, he thought his medical marijuana card would give him a free pass.
But that wasn’t the case and won’t be anytime soon, said Sgt. Trent Smith, of the state police.
Baird, 32, of Fowlerville, Mich., showed a trooper his Michigan medical marijuana card when he was pulled over for speeding Aug. 24 on the Indiana Toll Road, just west of Orland, police said.
The cards are issued to people with debilitating medical conditions – such as AIDS or cancer, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health Web site.
The cards allow people to legally grow and possess the drug. But while the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has been legalized in Michigan, that law does not cross state borders.
“He was using his card as a crutch if he ever got stopped,” Smith said. “In Indiana that is not going to fly. Just because something is legal in one state doesn’t mean that it’s legal in other states.”
While Smith did not have an exact amount for how much marijuana was confiscated from Baird – he said it was enough to pack full an Apple Dapples cereal box. That box of weed, along with a digital scale and several baggies of marijuana, was taken from Baird. Thirty grams of pot – or just less than 1.5 ounces – nets a felony arrest, Smith said.
Baird faces preliminary charges of possession of marijuana and dealing marijuana, along with a speeding citation. He was being held at the LaGrange County Jail, pending extradition to Colorado on a burglary warrant.
Police say he drove to Elkhart to purchase the drug and was heading home when he was stopped.
“As far as I know, this is one of the first times we’ve gotten an excuse for this,” Smith said.
The Michigan law took effect in December and limits the amount of medicinal marijuana a person can legally have to 2 1/2 ounces of usable marijuana. Additionally, users can keep up to 12 marijuana plants, according to the agency Web site.
“He would have been in violation of the Michigan law also,” Smith said. “If you think it’s illegal, more than likely it probably is.”
The Department of Community Health does not offer advice for patients on how to cultivate marijuana or obtain it. Obtaining marijuana is a federal offense in the U.S.
