DENVER, Colo. – A Denver woman moved from Indiana to Colorado for one reason: Medical marijuana.
Twenty-nine-year-old Melanie Brinegar says she’s constantly in pain if she doesn’t use cannabis. She says that’s especially true because of a past car accident that compressed her spine. She says the constant pressure against her back causes her pain.
So, when police pulled her over a year ago for an expired license plate, she was honest.
“He smelled marijuana. I then told him I’m a medical marijuana patient.”
She even works at a marijuana dispensary where she was headed when police say she failed a roadside sobriety test. Her blood test showed she had 19 nanograms. The state’s legal limit is 5 nanograms.
Brinegar says 5 nanograms is not fair to medical marijuana patients .
She fought the case in court, and her attorney convinced a jury that the police suggested, and insisted that there was no evidence of impairment.
Brinegar says smoking marijuana actually makes her a better, safer driver because she’s more focused behind the wheel.
