What to do if police find your medical cannabis in Colombia?

A police check can give rise to anguish even if there's actual medical treatment. The best answer isn't to argue that a prescription works as an absolute permission but to explain the context calmly and to show verifiable elements: who's the patient, what's his product, who's been prescribed, where his care was dispensed and how much his treatment corresponds.

The guide refers to Colombia and offers general guidance. It cannot anticipate the decision of a uniformed person, an inspector, a prosecutor or a judge in a particular case. If there was capture, prosecution, injury, use of force or potential conduct, individual legal assistance was necessary at once.

First: identifies what's happening

Not every meeting with the police means that a person is arrested or charged with an crime. The National Security and Coexistence Code allows for preventive searches of persons and means of transport as required by law. There are also police administrative procedures and, where elements warrant prosecution, police proceedings.

• Detentative registration: aims to verify the identity, provenance or legality of property, or to prevent risks to living and safety.
• Incitement: Section 164 of Act 1801 defines it as a temporary material apprehension of an asset whose possession, transport, conduct or other conduct is regarded as contrary to co-existence or law.
• Retirement: It is adopted as part of a police procedure and should respect the opportunity to be heard and to dispute the decision.
• Criminal activity: can be initiated if the authority considers that there are elements of a punishable conduct. On that stage, ask to contact an attorney and avoid giving extensive technical explanations without advice.

What to do while monitoring

1. 1Keep calm, identify the product with precision and do not try to hide, transfer or discard it during the procedure.
2. 2He respectfully asked what the reason for registration was and what conduct was currently under way: preventive, administrative or penal.
3. 3Show your identity document, the prescription to your name and the original package or sign. If there's an invoice or an offer support, it can also help explain the provenance.
4. 4He briefly explain what treatment was indicated, how long you have and why that amount corresponds to the prescription or time of displacement. Don't add claims you can't back up.
5. 5Distinguish between carrier and consumption. The consumption in some spaces may be subject to different rules of co-existence, even if the carrier has its own or its own purpose.
6. 6If an authority takes an action, it requests information about the rule and concrete facts at its disposal.

If there's seizures: get the minutes and check their contents

Section 164 of Act 1801 requires that the police document an inventory of confiscated property and the legal reasons for its conduct and give a copy to the person concerned. Before withdrawing, check that the document correctly describes the product, quantity or weight reported, the date, place, performing authority and the ground referred to.

• He's applying for a legible copy of the minutes. Do not depend only on a photo taken at a distance.
• He requested that it be established that you submitted a prescription, sign, invoice or other information and that you have made any relevant comments.
• Don't sign blank spaces. Read the document and, if you disagree, ask to register your observation without altering the procedure.
• Keep the prescription, appropriate medical history, invoice, photographs of the product and copies of any order of comparison or minutes.
• He asked what authority the good remained and what was the channel and time frame to conduct defence or request information.

Decree 1844 of 2018 referred to a police protocol for seizures and potential destruction of substances. The immediate verbal procedure of Act No. 1801, in turn, includes appeals and appeals against police orders or corrective measures. The form and time to resort depend on the act that has been issued and should therefore seek copies and advice without delay.

What cuts say about port, aim and quantity

The Constitutional Court's decision C-404 of 2022 sums up an important line: for the penal analysis of the carrier, we cannot simply look at the weight. The aim is to differentiate consumption or personal supply from distribution, sale, marketing or supply. That did not mean that any quantity was automatically protected and that the case should not be reduced to an isolated figure.

Judgment C-127 of 2023, while studying production and consumption restrictions in parks and other delimited areas, conditioned the transport ban so that it did not apply to port intended for its own consumption or to a dose of medication. The Court, however, treated consumption independently, especially where the rights of children and adolescents or reasonable territorial regulations are involved.

What if I thought there was an irregularity?

Prioritize your safety during procedure. He then organizes a chronology with hour, place, identification of the Unit or officials if you know it, submitted documents, witnesses and copies received. The National Police have channels of petitions, complaints, reclamos, police service and advice. An administrative complaint does not replace appeals against a measure and a criminal defence.

• To dispute an order or corrective measure, it reviews the remedy referred to and its opportunity.
• To request information or copies, use the channel listed in the minutes or a formal request to the competent authority.
• To report irregular treatment, discrimination or abuse, it retains evidence and uses appropriate official police and monitoring agencies channels.
• If they have been arrested or investigated, they have requested a trustworthy lawyer or public defence counsel and do not depend on an online publication to structure their defence.

Getting ready earlier reduces ambiguity

The documentation does not promise that there will never be a seizure but makes it easier to show a consistent context. It has an existing and legible prescription, a product identified in its dispensing package, a quantity consistent with treatment and a provenance support. Avoid anonymous containers, untraceably homemade mixtures, hard to explain or deliver products to third parties.