Quote:
Originally Posted by duckduckgoose
Cops will follow the federal law if pot is made legal in California. They just don't suddenly stop enforcing country wide laws because their state says it's ok to.
Case in point when the city of Denver legalized pot the police issued a statement saying that they would still arrest people that have pot and charge them under state law, instead of town law, if state law was changed they would still arrest the people and charge them under federal law.
Police enforce laws on a scale, if theres no town law but theres a state law against something, they enforce the state law, if theres no town or state law against something but there is a federal law against it, they enforce the federal law.
Also I hope this doesn't get passed.
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As long as there is no conflict then state police enforce federal law. However, whenever there is a conflict state police do NOT enforce federal law. State police can only arrest people for violating state statutes and select federal statutes. The Model Penal Code is a composite of federal and state law, but if there is a state statute that conflicts with federal code, then until the courts resolve it state police cannot serve arrest warrants and prosecutors cannot charge people without a state statute to charge them with, and cannot charge them with a federal offense if a state statute proactively allows the behavior.