What Matters Isn’t the Journey; It’s the Trip

I’m just a plainspoken Colorado criminal defense lawyer, but the way I see it…

Canadian Jim Wigmore wrote the book on DUI court practice. That’s not driving drunk in or to court; it’s all the factors to take into account when defending a drunk driving case in court.

He points out that, sure, some people in arctic climes have nearly two hundred words to describe snow or ice. But in the United States, right here at home, we have about three thousand words to capture getting snockered behind the wheel of a large automobile (there’s one right there).

He has something to say about the nonalcohol cases of DUI we see here too — those related to marijuana use. More and more of them involve people who don’t live here, but make the journey for the kick of firing up a joint without worrying the guy holding the lighter is a cop.

If I’d known legalizing medical marijuana in 2000, and recreational use in 2012, would lead to all the increased tourism Wigmore claims, I might have been against it: I always figured Colorado already had too many tourists.

Worse, only about twenty percent of our towns and counties even have dispensaries. We can expect a five-fold increase when they finally catch up.

Makes me want to get snockered.