With the advent of New Jersey’s Medical Marijuana law, many lawyers are anticipating an issue relating to whether a defendant on probation will violate a term of probation if his/her urine is infected with THC under circumstances where he/she has the authority to purchase and consumer marijuana under the instructions of the new statute.

In one jurisdiction, an appellate court was required to determine whether a defendant violated a condition of probation that required the defendant to “obey all laws” where he used medical marijuana  Under those circumstances, the court decided that the defendant was not in violation of any laws because he was in possession of a quantity of marijuana under that state’s medical marijuana law and that was so even though the prosecution argued that, notwithstanding the authority of the defendant to possess the marijuana under the medical marijuana statute of that state, the defendant violated the federal laws that do not authorize the possession of marijuana under any circumstances.

In another jurisdiction, the question was whether or not a trial judge could impose a “no medical cannabis” condition during the defendant’s probation term.  In that case, the court determined that a condition of that nature was legitimate.