Dain Smoland, Attorney at Law PLLC
Criminal Defense in Utah
Dain Smoland, Attorney at Law PLLC
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Marijuana Laws

Utah Legalizes Medical Marijuana! Kinda! Sort Of!

November 8, 2018 | Filed under: Drug Laws, DUI Laws, Interesting Legal News, Marijuana Laws

[UPDATE: the Utah Legislature passed, and the governor signed, a “compromise bill” that overwrites most of Proposition 2. More information and a new post will be forthcoming.] Utah just passed Proposition 2, the Utah Medical Cannabis Act. But, being Utah, I can promise you it is going to be a …

Your California Medical Marijuana Card in Utah

April 22, 2016 | Filed under: Drug Laws, DUI Laws, Marijuana Laws

Probably once a week, I get asked if a California Medical Marijuana Card makes any difference in Utah. Up until last year, I had to say no.  Fortunately, Utah’s new Medical Cannabis Act does contain some reciprocity for med cards from out of state, but there are some important caveats …

Carbon County Utah Marijuana Charges

October 14, 2014 | Filed under: Drug Laws, Marijuana Laws

Carbon County, Utah has no freeways, but it does have beautiful, windy Highway 6, the main route from Salt Lake City and points west to Denver and points east. Consequently, it gets a lot of traffic for a small, rural, county in the Utah desert. They also do a fair …

Drug Dogs and Police Searches in Utah

May 2, 2014 | Filed under: Constitutional Law, Drug Laws, Marijuana Laws, Search and Seizure, Traffic Laws

Can Police Have a Dog Sniff My Car Without My Permission? Can Police Search My Car without Permission Based on the “Alert” of a K-9 Unit? What if the Cops Said the Dog Alerted on My Car, but Then They Didn’t Find Any Drugs? What if the Cops Searched My …

Richfield Marijuana Arrests : The most exciting part of driving I-70

December 16, 2013 | Filed under: Drug Laws, DUI Laws, Marijuana Laws, Traffic Laws

The drive along Interstate 70, in central Utah, is remarkable for its unremarkableness.  Just to the north, there are strikingly beautiful salt flats and the abrupt, snow-capped peaks of the Wasatch front.  Just to the south are the red-rock deserts and world-famous national parks: Zion, Arches, Canyonlands.  But I-70 threads …

Summit County Marijuana Arrests

December 14, 2013 | Filed under: Drug Laws, Marijuana Laws

If I ever give up this whole lawyering thing, I’m moving up to Park City to drive a tow-truck. Those guys have it good.  During winter storms, there’s all the tourists on ski vacations getting their rental cars mired in snow-banks.  And the rest of the time, there’s the drug arrests …

Tooele Highway Drug Stops

October 18, 2013 | Filed under: Constitutional Law, Drug Laws, Marijuana Laws, Search and Seizure, Traffic Laws

View Larger Map Tooele County, Utah is a large, rural county 30 minutes west of Salt Lake City, with a couple small towns (Grantsville, Tooele), some mountains, salt flats, and one large, busy, east-west Highway (I-80). Like many places around the state and country, the local law enforcement folks in …

Utah’s Dubious Distinction: The Most Federal Pot Convictions

September 25, 2013 | Filed under: Drug Laws, Marijuana Laws

According to an article published this summer in the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah leads the nation in convictions for federal cases of “simple possession.” Basically, this is the federal crime you get charged with if you’re found with a personal amount of weed on any federal land: national parks, national …

Simple Possession | Marijuana Charges on Federal Land | Utah Defense Attorney

July 18, 2013 | Filed under: Drug Laws, Marijuana Laws

When I was growing up, people my parents’ age used to say “Don’t make a federal case out of it” as a way of saying “Don’t make this into a big deal when it isn’t.”  As in, “Dad, Joey is using my football!” “Don’t make a federal case out of …

The Metaphysics of Utah’s Drug Paraphernalia Act

May 29, 2013 | Filed under: Drug Laws, Marijuana Laws

The Buddhists sometimes say that “the universe exists in a grain of sand” when explaining the concept of interdependence among all things. It seems the Utah legislature was strikingly Buddhist when drafting the Utah Drug Paraphernalia Act, because the way they defined “paraphernalia” makes paraphernalia exist in all things, too. …

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Recognition for Dain Smoland's NORML Membership

Some Posts from My Blog

  • Utah Legislature Temporarily Suspends Expungement Filing Fees!
  • Parolees Become Eligible for 402 Reductions in Utah
  • Utah’s “Clean Slate” Law, and Automatic Expungements
  • Utah Legalizes Medical Marijuana! Kinda! Sort Of!
  • Utah Eases Expungement Eligibility, Especially for Prior Drug Convictions!

Courts Where I Take Cases

I am licensed to practice criminal law anywhere in Utah, but my office is in Salt Lake City so I focus my defense practice on Salt Lake County and the surrounding counties: Weber, Davis, Utah, Summit, Wasatch, Tooele.

That includes any of the state, city, or federal courts located in Salt Lake City, West Jordan, South Jordan, West Valley, Heber, Park City, Provo, Ogden, Farmington, Bountiful, Holladay, Cottonwood Heights, Murray, Millcreek, South Salt Lake, Grantsville, Tooele, Orem, American Fork, Sandy, Draper, Centerville, Layton, Kaysville, and anywhere else within an hour's drive of Salt Lake. I'll also go down to Carbon County (Price and Helper), because I like that drive!

For locations in Utah outside that area, just contact me and we'll talk about it.

Categories of my blog posts

  • 402 Reductions
  • Constitutional Law
    • Fifth Amendment
    • Search and Seizure
  • Drug Laws
    • Marijuana Laws
  • Expungement Law
  • Interesting Legal News
  • Theft Laws
    • Shoplifting
  • Traffic Laws
    • Driver's License Laws
    • DUI Laws
  • Uncategorized

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