Arizona Man Arrested for Possession Surprised to Find State Didn't Legalize Marijuana

Ignorance of the law — and election news — wasn't a valid excuse for an aging Arizona toker arrested this week in Golden Valley.

After allegedly resisting arrest, Lon Victor Post, 54, told deputies early Wednesday morning that he thought the state had legalized marijuana, according to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office. Deputies took him to jail anyway.

Possession of any amount of marijuana remains a felony in Arizona after voters rejected Prop 205 in November by a ratio of about 52 percent to 48 percent. Perhaps Post was confused by the fact that roughly 100 miles to the west and north of him, thanks to successful legalization elections in California and Nevada, adults 21 and older now have the freedom to use marijuana without legal penalty. Maine and Massachusetts also legalized weed for all adults, making Arizona the only one of five states that turned down the opportunity.

The law-enforcement agency in northwestern Arizona reported receiving a call at about 1:36 a.m. on Wednesday that an "intoxicated subject" was in a vehicle in his neighbor's front yard, playing loud music. Officers found Post kicking back near his vehicle and listening to music amid the aroma of marijuana smoke, according to the sheriff's office bulletin written by spokeswoman Trish Carter.

The deputies noticed he was having trouble standing upright as he turned down the music and chatted with them. They also noticed a baggie of pot sticking out of his shirt pocket and soon determined that he wasn't one of the roughly 100,000 Arizonans registered under the state's medical-marijuana program. But Post, apparently thinking he was being hassled unfairly, "jerked away" as the deputies tried to take him into custody, Carter writes.

Post pulled away a second time, seemed to square up for a fight, and took a menacing step forward. Deputies hit him with a Taser blast, which calmed him down. He then asked why he was being arrested.

"Further conversations with Post, he said that he thought marijuana was legal," Carter writes. "The deputy advised Post that marijuana is illegal without a prescription and medical-marijuana card."

That last part isn't quite right: Qualified patients need to obtain a recommendation, not a federally regulated prescription, in order to register for a card.

Deputies booked him on suspicion of resisting arrest, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia — all felonies.

Had Post been savvier, he could have obtained a card easily and possibly avoided the possession and paraphernalia charges.

But even under the voter-approved 2010 medical-marijuana law, smoking in public remains illegal.