Prescriptions for medical marijuana and about 2-1/2 pounds of marijuana and hash were recovered during a traffic stop last week on Interstate 24, said a Rutherford County Sheriff's Interstate Crime Enforcement Unit supervisor.

The high-grade marijuana was valued at $8,000, said Sgt. Shawn Applegate of the ICE Unit. The prescription for the marijuana was from Denver, where medical marijuana is legal.

"It had the weight of the amount, the medical clinic, the name of the marijuana and the price," Applegate said. "It was like the prescription on a pill bottle except it was for medical marijuana."

Because marijuana is legal in Colorado, Oregon and California, a large amount of marijuana is transported to other states where marijuana is illegal, the sergeant said. ICE deputies have found several cases of prescription marijuana during traffic stops.

Deputy Travis Perusse stopped driver Mervin Blackwood Oct. 20 at the 84-mile marker of Interstate 24 near Joe B. Jackson Parkway. During the stop, Deputy Christian Wrather walked his K-9 Mary Jane around the vehicle and the K-9 alerted to the odor of narcotics.

Deputies searching the vehicle located the marijuana and hash in a vacuum sealed bag, a vacuum sealer machine and the medical prescriptions for medical marijuana from Denver.

Perusse charged Blackwood, 24, of Apopka, Fla., with felony possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia. Blackwood told deputies he was traveling from Denver to Orlando.

"People passing through the state of Tennessee are subject to Tennessee law," Sgt. Applegate said. "Because marijuana is not legal here, it's illegal to transport an illegal narcotic through the state of Tennessee."

Blackwood was booked into Rutherford County Adult Detention Center and later released on $10,500 bond. A hearing on the charges is set Jan. 26 in General Sessions Court.