Before marijuana was legalized in the state of New Mexico, I got two tickets for driving with marijuana in my vehicle.
One time I was on my way home from hanging out with my friends.
The traffic stop was entirely my fault. I ran a red light. The traffic light was yellow and I probably should have slowed down and stopped instead of speeding up to get through the four-way traffic stop. The police officer was a mile down the road and pulled me over. I don’t know how the officer knew that I ran the red light unless he had access to a camera. I was going to attempt to fight the red light ticket, but my mom and dad got upset and told me to pay the fines. The second time I got a ticket, I had marijuana in my vehicle. I was smoking a joint and an officer pulled me over because I was going 65 in a 50 mph zone. The smell of marijuana was strong in my vehicle. That Albuquerque cop asked me to get out of my vehicle. The Albuquerque officer called for backup. The two officers searched my vehicle and found all of my stash. I got arrested and put in handcuffs because I had an ounce of marijuana in my vehicle. I spent the night in an Albuquerque jail just for having an ounce of marijuana. Now it’s perfectly legal to go to a local dispensary and buy an ounce at a time without getting into any trouble.