Although New Jersey’s medical marijuana use law was passed on January 18, 2010, as of spring 2012, not even one patient had legal access to medical marijuana. Ironically, marijuana is one of the most commonly available drugs on the street. An estimated $35 billion of marijuana is grown annually in the United States.
The law governing cultivation of marijuana states that people are prohibited from “maintaining, operating, financing, promoting or participating in maintaining or operating a facility used to produce marijuana.” The law applies to situations in which a person has been arrested for growing more than five pounds or 10 marijuana plants.
Cultivating marijuana as defined above is considered a first-degree crime in New Jersey. This means that a person could be imprisoned for up to 10 to 20 years on conviction. The law also makes a person ineligible to get parole until one-third to one-half of his or her sentence has been served. There are also fines involved and a loss of any driver’s license.
Those who have legal permits to grow marijuana for medical purposes seem to be exempt from this particular law.
PRETRIAL INTERVENTION (PTI)
If you have been arrested for growing marijuana and this is your first arrest, you may be eligible for a pretrial intervention, or PTI, or a conditional discharge. Both of these are diversion programs, which means that you could be placed on probation and may avoid trial altogether. In situations like these, no guilty plea is entered on record, and on successful completion of your probation period, there is no record that you have been convicted.
HAVE YOU BEEN ARRESTED FOR MARIJUANA CULTIVATION IN TOMS RIVER OR ELSEWHERE IN NEW JERSEY?
The attorneys at Mallon and Tranger, in Freehold, New Jersey, have extensive experience protecting the rights of people accused of growing marijuana and other drug-related crimes. We have been successful in representing individuals who have been arrested on charges like these and can protect your rights, too. We encourage you to contact us online or call our office at 732-702-0333 to schedule a free initial consultation with one of our criminal defense lawyers.