Why It's Crazy To Try To Set DUI Limits For Marijuana

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A woman smokes a blunt at the 4/20 marijuana holiday in Civic Center Park in downtown Denver April 20, 2013.

Come New Year's Day, Colorado's pot shops will start selling legal, recreational weed, but there's still a marijuana law that's bugging pot advocates — the state's new marijuana DUI law.

Colorado passed a law last spring that presumes you're too high to drive if you have 5 nanograms or more of THC per milliliter of blood, even though many experts say there is insufficient evidence to tie that level of THC to impaired driving.

"We don't have a consensus as to what levels of THC are consistently correlated with behavioral impairment," Paul Armentano, deputy director for the pot advocacy group NORML, told me. But, he added, "Marijuana policy has never been driven by science in this country."

It's never been legal to drive while you're impaired by any drug in Colorado, but this is the first time there's a presumption that a certain level of THC in your blood means you're high. Since the controversial new limits passed, Denver criminal defense attorney Sean McAllister told me he's seen an uptick in marijuana-related driving arrests.

Medical pot users also fear getting stopped now since they may have THC levels above the legal limit but don't feel too high to drive. Teri Robnett — a patient advocate who also has a pot prescription for her Fibromyalgia — told me she's often over the THC limit because the medical marijuana she takes metabolizes slowly.

"I can pretty much assume that I will always be above five nanograms in my blood," she said, "but I have no impairment."

The Rise Of Drug-Impaired Driving Laws

Every state in America has a legal driving limit for blood alcohol levels, as well as some kind of law regulating drug use and driving. These laws are known as DUID laws, which stands for driving under the influence of drugs. The idea behind these laws is that being high on the road may be dangerous.

"Smoking marijuana has a very negative effect on your ability to operate a motor vehicle," Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, told SF Gate. "It's quite dangerous to you, your passengers and others on the road."

Some states like New York have effect-based DUID laws, meaning that you can get in trouble if you're visibly impaired while driving and provably high on drugs that made you impaired.

Other states have per se drugged driving laws, meaning you can get a DUID if you have a certain level of drugs in your system. Several states have enacted per se laws in recent months, including Washington state and Colorado. Still other states like Arizona and, more recently Oklahoma, have "zero tolerance" per se laws. That means you're toast if you're caught driving with any amount of illegal drugs in your system.

While Colorado just legalized recreational pot in Nov. 2012, medical marijuana there has been legal there since 2000, and medical-marijuana activists balked at a driving limit for pot in the state when the measure was previously defeated.

Before the Colorado DUID bill failed in May 2012, medical marijuana activists argued that 5 nanograms was too low and that effectively sober people would end up getting arrested, the Denver Post reported.

"There needs to be a way to know whether a medical patient has the 5 nanograms in their system so they can know whether they can get behind the wheel," Debbie Olander, a union spokesperson, told the Denver Post. "With alcohol you can."

THC limits in Colorado eventually passed after the state legalized recreational pot.

Unlike in Washington, though, Colorado's new law lets drivers try to submit evidence in court showing they weren't impaired even though their THC blood levels were above the legal limit. That standard is known as "permissive inference." But you'd have to have a good lawyer to get out of a DUID with 5 nanograms in your blood, even if you were cool to drive.

"It's the defense attorney's job to educate the jury, trying to get them to look at impairment and not the number [THC level]," Colorado defense attorney Leonard Frieling told me.

Why That THC Number Doesn't Mean You're Too High To Drive

Marijuana advocates say there simply isn't enough evidence to link certain THC levels to impaired driving, even though many states have tied a specific number to impairment.

To be sure, there is some evidence that it's not a great idea to drive when you're high.

"We know that when people smoke marijuana they lose some of their peripheral vision," Dr. Marilyn Huestis, a senior investigator at the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Intramural Research Program, told Popular Science Magazine. "We know it affects the passage of time, or the idea of how rapidly time is passing. It affects balance. And one of the most interesting areas it affects is the prefrontal cortex."

That, in turn, can affect our ability to make decisions, Huestis told Popular Science's Clay Dillow. Marijuana can also make it hard to multitask. In several studies, marijuana has also interfered with drivers' ability to hold the vehicle in the middle of the traffic lane, Dillow reported.

One widely cited experiment by a Washington TV station asked volunteers to get high on pot and then try driving on a course with a safety instructor. One drove too slowly, while another almost hit the station's photographer.

Despite these signs that driving high might be bad, even the federal government says there's a lack of evidence that ties a certain level of THC with a certain degree of impairment. In other words, some people may be able to drive perfectly well at a certain level of THC intoxication, while others may be impaired. Here's what the National Highway Traffic Administration says on its website:

It is difficult to establish a relationship between a person's THC blood or plasma concentration and performance impairing effects ... It is inadvisable to try and predict effects based on blood THC concentrations alone.

Apparently, Colorado's lawmakers didn't this advice, even though there's also no evidence that "per se" pot laws lower traffic fatalities, according to NORML's Paul Armentano.

For now, medical users who might have too much THC in their blood should probably try to be inconspicuous on the road.

"They drive under tremendous risk," Colorado lawyer Rachel Gillette told me. "I always say make sure your taillights are good. Don’t swerve or go out of the lines. Make sure they don’t have any reason to pull you over in the first place."

Why It's Crazy To Try To Set DUI Limits For Marijuana - Yahoo Finance
 
that's why they should use the tax revenue for public transportation.

Its not really a problem for most people, but if youre deaf and speak with a deaf accent. It can be very risky to drive.
 
that's why they should use the tax revenue for public transportation.

Its not really a problem for most people, but if youre deaf and speak with a deaf accent. It can be very risky to drive.

Why do you say that? And not the first part but the second.

The article is right though, pot effects people to varying degrees, I think tolerance might have a lot to do with it, just your brain adjusting to effects. At the height of my use, when I used to smoke often I had to smoke a whole bowl to get a little buzz on, now I could probably have just a couple hits and be toasted. Not to mention not all pot is created equal, there are many different strains and they can get you more or less high.
 
Are you hearing?

Maybe you should check recent announced federal DOT about Deaf driver, you may be in for surprise.

Suggestion: Refrain from assumption that Hearing people are better driver than Deaf!

Its not really a problem for most people, but if youre deaf and speak with a deaf accent. It can be very risky to drive.
 
This is very true, too many variables in when it comes to THC and how one responds.

Yes, some strain will cause you nice high or nasty high, some won't give you much of high, while other, OMG high!

As of right now, there is NO such thing as scientific evidence on how much THC content would be considered dangerous. The politicians look at just yes or no answer, if one person gets high and is very dangerous to drive, then all must be applied. Its like having one bad apples causing the rest of apples to be bad. Today's THC test is NOT that accurate, all it shows whether you did smoke or not within several days. Nobody stays high for several days from just couple hits, but the test shows otherwise.


The article is right though, pot effects people to varying degrees, I think tolerance might have a lot to do with it, just your brain adjusting to effects. At the height of my use, when I used to smoke often I had to smoke a whole bowl to get a little buzz on, now I could probably have just a couple hits and be toasted. Not to mention not all pot is created equal, there are many different strains and they can get you more or less high.
 
can you imagine a couple of hits getting you stoned for a couple of days lol
wow
if only
 
btw, I don't think hearing loss affects ability to drive.

If you speak with a deaf accent, the cop is going to suspect impairment and investigate further.

Obviously, don't smoke and drive. Also, don't go around smelling like reefer either. They need probable cause to search you. If arrested, you lose no matter what, after paying legal fees.

Studies have shown that heavy smokers aren't as impaired from marijuana as lite-users. Theres no magic number for determining intoxication. The state will impose an arbitrary number to raise revenue.
 
btw, I don't think hearing loss affects ability to drive.

If you speak with a deaf accent, the cop is going to suspect impairment and investigate further.

Obviously, don't smoke and drive. Also, don't go around smelling like reefer either. They need probable cause to search you. If arrested, you lose no matter what, after paying legal fees.

Studies have shown that heavy smokers aren't as impaired from marijuana as lite-users. Theres no magic number for determining intoxication. The state will impose an arbitrary number to raise revenue.

I've never been investigated just because I speak funny. Tell them you're deaf and they'll get it. None of my deaf friends have either.
 
Exactly. Cops are more likely to get someone for what they say when pulled over then how they sound...
 
that's why they should use the tax revenue for public transportation.

Its not really a problem for most people, but if youre deaf and speak with a deaf accent. It can be very risky to drive.
Oh, man, I agree with Diehardbiker. I can't hear and do not use my implant at this time when driving my car - the sounds are too distorted, loud, and confusing. I'll never use it on my motorcycle. One drop and $$$$$.

I have NEVER had an accident due to my not hearing and my loss worsened over many years. I'm perhaps more alert and always checking (sort of like when I'm riding my motorcycle). I see flashing lights far away. I see cops close and far away. Geesh, IF I had a deaf accent it's totally irrelevant. Where are you getting this information?

If being deaf/Deaf/HoH was a problem insurance rates would go up or we wouldn't be allowed to drive then the ACLU would be on this.
 
Nope. Some cops perceptions of deaf accents are overwhelmingly biased. Many people, cops included, assume that deaf are worse at everything. That we are defects. "some" not all.
I find that signing can be mistaken for odd behavior, misunderstood to mean violent or erratic movements even from the most fluent signers.
I keep a placard in the car that explains that I am deaf. I have it with my licence, registration and insurance. Too many deaf friends have been mistreated.
 
btw, I don't think hearing loss affects ability to drive.

If you speak with a deaf accent, the cop is going to suspect impairment and investigate further.

Obviously, don't smoke and drive. Also, don't go around smelling like reefer either. They need probable cause to search you. If arrested, you lose no matter what, after paying legal fees.

Studies have shown that heavy smokers aren't as impaired from marijuana as lite-users. Theres no magic number for determining intoxication. The state will impose an arbitrary number to raise revenue.

Most states have an impairment section on their licenses. People who can not hear have a note just like people who wear corrective lenses of any kind.
 
Also, I have to support the charge for a DUI under the use of marijuana. Someone said, "It effects everyone differently" well yes, it does... Just like alcohol. I can drink forever and ever and still walk a straight line. Do I drive? HELL no! Would I try? HELL no! However, I could probably pass as sober compared to some friends I have that could have 2 or 3 beers and be all over the damn place. Point being there has to be a limit set. Since we can not tell each individuals tolerance, there has to be a limit, period. I support a limit on marijuana as well simply because I have seen my fair share of people stoned. I have seen how some of them can act, their slower reaction times and the way they act in general. ( Not saying all people, just I have seen a LOT ) So just like alcohol, there needs to be a legal limit in order to operate a vehicle. I was never a drug user, but I remember smoking a couple times with friends when I was in high school and at one point I seemed to blink and be somewhere else! I didn't remember getting there, just that I WAS some place else and now I wasn't! ( Ex: Garage to living-room, Living-room to outside ect. ) It can and does definitely hit how you function in some way. It may not be as bad as alcohol however it still makes a difference from you being totally sober and on nothing at all. Like I said, there has to be a limit. If people want to smoke that stuff, okay good for them I have no issues with people wanting to smoke it nor with it being legalized. However, that's your choice just like drinking is and you can make plans to have a sober driver, period. A license is a privilege, not a right. If they say you need to be tested for marijuana, you're going to have to submit or lose your license, end of story.
 
Not only the DUI, I always wonder about employment policy on take drug. If anyone who is on abuse or heavy marijuana, won't able get or lose a job.
 
I've never been investigated just because I speak funny. Tell them you're deaf and they'll get it. None of my deaf friends have either.

Its a lil different if youre a woman. Ive gotten second looks from cops. I also walk with a limp, which sometimes mistaken for impairment.

Whatever, if you smoke and drive, its best to be carefull
 
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