Man Ticketed For Smoking Weed in Officer's Face: 'It's Legal Bro'

A fisherman discovered a snag to Michigan's marijuana laws only after blowing smoke into an officer's face.

The man was spotted by officers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in July, according to a department report. Conservation Officers Joseph Deppen and Brad Silorey were checking anglers at a public launch in Macomb County.

"One angler was getting his fishing license and started smoking marijuana right in front of the COs," said the report.

Deppen asked the man, "So you are really going to smoke marijuana right in front of me?"

The fisherman responded by exhaling smoke into Deppen's face, saying, "It's legal bro!"

The officers issued him a citation for the use of marijuana in public.

Michigan became the 10th state to legalize recreational marijuana in 2018. Adults over 21 years old can legally possess and transport up to 2.5 ounces of the drug at any time, or keep up to 10 ounces at home if amounts higher than 2.5 ounces are locked away. People can also grow up to 12 marijuana plants at home.

However, marijuana use is still prohibited in public places such as parks, schools and sidewalks.

The only exception would be an area designated for marijuana consumption within a municipality that is not accessible to people under 21 years old, First Lieutenant Todd Szyska of the Michigan DNR Law Enforcement Division told Newsweek.

"Our concern is not just with the natural resources in Michigan but also for the citizens that we all have sworn to protect," Szyska said.

The first person to legally purchase recreational marijuana in Michigan was John Sinclair, a poet and activist who received a 10-year prison sentence for giving an undercover police officer two joints in 1969 when he was 27 years old. In 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono organized a John Sinclair Freedom Rally at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor to urge Sinclair's release.

In other marijuana-related news, on August 31, the Michigan state police said it was forced to halt blood toxicology testing for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component in marijuana. Police revealed that their tests hadn't been working for years, potentially impacting 3,250 laboratory reports. A flaw in the testing allowed samples containing cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound, to show up in results as THC.

"We now believe this discrepancy may impact cases that occurred on or after March 28, 2019, where the alleged violation is based on the finding of THC alone and there is insufficient evidence of impairment, intoxication, or recent use of marijuana to otherwise support the charged offense," said the police statement.

State police said they notified prosecutors across Michigan to prevent the impacted drug reports from being used in any current or pending court cases. The agency also temporarily halted the disposal of blood samples that may require re-analysis.

Update 9/8/22 11:25 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with a comment from Michigan's DNR Law Enforcement Division.