Thanks to a new law, Colorado medical marijuana patients will not be barred from using their medication, like the vape pen pictured, while awaiting trial. (Cannabist file photo)

Colorado decides courts can’t force medical marijuana users awaiting trial to abstain

DENVER — Marijuana use won’t be banned while people await trial in Colorado. That’s according to a new law (SB17-178) signed Thursday.

Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a measure forbidding a court from saying that criminal defendants who are marijuana patients must abstain from pot as a condition of bond.

Colorado has already decided that marijuana use shouldn’t be off-limits for people on probation.

A fiscal analysis prepared for lawmakers says the bond measure won’t cost any money. That’s because pot abstention isn’t usually a condition of bond in this state.

Supporters call the bond change a policy statement. The protection for marijuana use applies only to people with certain medical conditions, not recreational pot users.