GREENWOOD VILLAGE

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Fort Collins

Colorado Springs


Until recently, driving through our neighboring states with Colorado plates on your car made you a target. Because marijuana is legal in Colorado, police in Utah, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and other nearby states have used Colorado plates as a way of identifying potential weed smugglers taking products across state lines to sell elsewhere. But thanks to Colorado resident Peter Vasquez and his lawsuit against Kansas police, traveling Coloradans can now breathe a little easier.

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Outlaws Profiling Based on State Citizenship

In 2012, Vasquez took a trip out of Colorado through Kansas, during which he was stopped by Kansas Highway Patrol. The police claimed that the stop happened for a few reasons. For one, they claimed Vasquez was acting suspiciously during the stop. Another claim was that the police could not see the temporary license plate in the window. But the real reason for the stop, according to the court, was because the man was from Colorado, a “drug source area.”

The judge thought it was a bit of a ridiculous argument. Medical marijuana is legal in 25 states and Washington, D.C., so using a license plate as justification for a search and seizure could affect drivers from up to half of the states in the country.

Vasquez is not the only victim of this type of profiling; in the first five months of 2013, 79 out of 133 felony pot trafficking cases in Kansas involved people from Colorado. Perhaps it is coincidence, but it seems that Kansas police have a thing for us Coloradans. Maybe they’re just jealous.