Medical Marijuana Use After A Criminal Conviction

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It is no surprise that a criminal conviction will often result in a person’s loss of liberty. This may or may not include incarceration but will often result in probationary release conditions set by the court in lieu of serving time in jail or prison.

One standard condition for persons placed on probation, parole, supervised release or conditional release is often “no use of alcohol or mood-altering substances without a prescription.” Until recently, the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) considered use and possession of medical marijuana as grounds for a violation of the release conditions.

However, on April 1, 2019, the DOC reversed its policy on the use of medical cannabis, holding that a person under its supervision may use the drug in accordance with state law.

This means that the DOC no longer considers a person’s possession and use of medical marijuana to be a violation of parole or supervised release conditions.

Under the updated DOC policy, agents will still test for marijuana but will nottake a person into custody if the positive result is the only reason for revoking the release.After a positive test, the person will have a reasonable period of time to provide the DOC agent with verification that he or she has been prescribed marijuana and on the medical registry.

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