Don’t Drive Under the Influence
Video Transcribed: So you’ve got your marijuana card. So it shouldn’t affect your rights to your kids, right? My name is Brian L. Jackson, I’m a father’s rights attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma with dads.law. And I’m going to talk to you a little bit about the use of marijuana pursuant to a marijuana card and how it may or may not impact a custody case.
I think the first thing to understand is that the main thing a judge is going to be concerned about if you do have the card and you are using marijuana medicinally is how you’re using it and whether or not you’re being responsible about it.
Some obvious things are, if you are going to use it, don’t be driving under the influence. And the fact that you have that card doesn’t mean you can’t be busted for DUI. And that also means you can’t be using in the car. So don’t, because that will get you busted for DUI. If you have a detectable amount in your system, you can be busted for DUI.
And that kind of thing a judge will definitely look at and hold against you. Not being impaired around your children. You need to be able to care for the children. So you don’t want to be so high that you’re out of it and you can’t care for your children.
If you have older children, obviously you don’t want to be getting high with them, but you also want to make sure you secure your stash. Can’t be where a little kid could get ahold of it, can’t be where the teenager can get ahold of it and steal weed from you and be out getting high with their friends. So those are some things. How often you’re using is going to also be factored in. And how you use it, obviously don’t use it in the presence of your children, especially not if you’re going to smoke.
If the judge gets the idea that you’re hotboxing with your kid and the kid’s getting a secondhand contact high, they’re not going to like that so much. These are the kinds of things that judges will look at. I’ve had judges ask, “Okay, how much do you use? How often do you use?” Again, because they’re trying to judge whether or not this is going to impact your fitness as a parent.
And it’s not unique to marijuana, just so you guys know, I’m not just picking on those of you who have marijuana cards and do use it medicinally because the same kind of things would apply if you have a prescription for Valium.
And it would be the same, a judge would have the same concerns. I think the main thing to understand is, be responsible and don’t go nuts. If you’re going to do it, do it responsibly and not around the kids, and you shouldn’t have a problem.
Also, don’t lie about it. If you know you are using, don’t say you’re not, because you’re likely to get your bluff called and get drug tested, and if you test hot after saying you don’t use, then you’re going to have a bigger problem.
Also, if you are on some kind of probation, the state is still taking the position you can’t use medicinal marijuana on probation. So if you know you’re on probation and you are in the middle of a custody case, you already may have some issues anyway, don’t compound it.
The last thing I’m going to say is if really you have a judge, and this is where you want to talk to your attorney carefully if you know you have a judge who really objects to this, then you’re going to have to make a judgment call where the priority lies.
Because if your judge really objects to it, understand that domestic cases involving children or any domestic cases, they’re all suits and equity, the judge has a lot of discretion there. So if you know your judge and you know your judge, doesn’t like the use of marijuana period, that’s something to consider when you’re deciding where your priorities are, in terms of if you want to be in your children’s lives and not have a bunch of restrictions. So guys, if you have questions about dads rights in Tulsa, this is definitely where you want to get with a really good lawyer.
