Quote Quoting Ryinzler
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My question involves criminal law for the state of: California

I am an adult, California physician-approved, medical cannabis patient. I was sitting in the passenger seat of my motor vehicle with the engine turned off and the keys out of the ignition in the seat beside me. I was on a rural road with no buildings for at least 10,000 feet in each direction (probably more) and with no other persons or vehicles around.
So, no buildings in any direction for nearly 2 miles or more. When you’d finishing smoking your weed, what were you going to do then? Walk several miles to get wherever you needed to go? Sit there until the weed high wore off? Or were you, perhaps, going to drive that car? If it was the latter, that’s a problem. Just like you shouldn’t drive after drinking or taking any other prescription drug that may affect your ability to drive, you should not drive while high on weed. And given the circumstances, it's not hard to see why the officer suspected that is exactly what you were going to do. Had you actually driven the car after smoking it and shown any sign of impairment you’d have been fair game for a DUI arrest.

Quote Quoting Ryinzler
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Specifically, he seemed to believe that I could:
a) Only transport medical cannabis in my vehicle to and from a dispensary.
There is a possible problem here. California Vehicle Code section 23222(b) makes it an infraction to drive a vehicle while there is marijuana in it, unless authorized by law. (Note that § 23222(a) makes it illegal to drive a vehicle with an open container of alcohol in it, so (b) is basically like an open container law for pot.) Violating this law can cost you $100.

Health and Safety Code § 11362.71(e) provides that:

(e) No person or designated primary caregiver in possession of a valid identification card shall be subject to arrest for possession, transportation, delivery, or cultivation of medical marijuana in an amount established pursuant to this article, unless there is reasonable cause to believe that the information contained in the card is false or falsified, the card has been obtained by means of fraud, or the person is otherwise in violation of the provisions of this article.

That provision provides good protection for the medical marijuana patient from arrest under Health and Safety Code section 11360(a) that, among other things, prohibits transporting any amount of marijuana in the state. But the definition of transporting is not the same as driving. Morever, this section only protects you from arrest, not from being cited for an infraction.