Cannitrol – Cannabis Control Agent

Marijuana news from around the world

Nancy Spence

Proposed Marijuana DUI Law in Colorado Fails

dui checkpoint

One of the major hurdles in the marijuana reform movement is how to enforce driving laws.  With alcohol, there is a clear system that most people understand with tests that are not likely to turn up false positives.  Testing drivers for recent marijuana use, however, has proved to be much more difficult.

Recently marijuana.net ran a story about a proposed law in Colorado that would set a limit as to how much THC could legally be permitted in a drivers system.  Initially the bill to regulate marijuana DUI was passed by Colorado lawmakers by one vote, 18-17, two weeks ago.  However, politics is often unpredictable and one of the bills major proponents, Nancy Spence was unable to make it to Tuesday’s vote.  She was out of state attending a grandchild’s birthday party.  Ms. Spence was urged to return quickly by her constituents but she expected the vote to take place a day later.  Everyone voted identically as they did two weeks prior, except for Nancy Spence’s absent vote which killed the legislation and resulted in a 17-17 tie.

Critics and opponents have long been seeking a system to test if marijuana patients are suitable to take the wheel.  Nationally, it would probably result in even more support (though over 70% of Americans already support medical marijuana) and maybe even by the government if safety measures were taken to ensure driver safety.  However, the proposed law in Colorado seemed to be set entirely too low.  It would appear that patients would face penalties who were not under the influence of marijuana.  The 5 nanogram limit, as stated by Colorado lawmaker Pat Steadman may not work because “Some of these people wake up in the morning and roll out of bed at 5 nanograms.”  In response to the vote yesterday, he mentioned that he thought the bill would do nothing to make the roads safer.

While the future of the industry may be very much intertwined with a standard system for analyzing marijuana DUI, we are pleased to see that vulnerable and innocent patients will not be arrested even when they are not impaired to operate a motor vehicle.  This law will likely come up again as it has failed 3x already.  Hopefully a more commonsense approach is utilized for what appears to be an inevitable law.

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Colorado Lawmakers Appear set to Enact Marijuana DUI Law

colorado general assembly

As the discussion of medical and legalized cannabis continues, our focus is often on why the federal government has stubbornly not made any changes to marijuana law.  Surely, if they could just move marijuana from a schedule I to a schedule II substance, then the debate would be over.  While many of us wish that were the situation, it may not be quite that simple.  Many legal analysts feel that authorities are unsure of how to enforce “smoking and driving” limits.

So far there has not been any uniform way to determine if drivers are fit to drive after marijuana use.  One key point is that because of tolerance and other issues, cannabis does not impact everyone in the same manor.  Colorado lawmakers have passed a bill that will set parameters for how much THC a driver can have in their system.  This bill would set the legal limit at 5 nanograms of THC in order to legally be able to operate a moving vehicle.  The vote was close and only passed by a slim 18-17 margin.  The bill will now face the state senate but is expected to pass there as well by a wider margin.   Those who passed the bill are not necessarily advocates of marijuana.  The deciding vote was cast by state Republican Sen. Nancy Spence who said “I’m just sick of the abuse that the state of Colorado has taken from the medical marijuana industry.”  However, we must question if the tides have turned when staunch opponents have accepted that medical marijuana is here to stay and would rather regulate the industry instead of eradicating it.

One major problem, as it always has been when conceiving of the “one size fits all” marijuana test, is that marijuana is fat soluble and will remain in the blood long after the effects of THC are felt.  As Colorado state Democrat Pat Steadman put it, “Some of these people wake up in the morning and roll out of bed at 5 nanograms.”  If any common sense goes into these laws (our hopes should not get too high for that considering the decades long war on drugs and information suppression on marijuana) then officers will use a series of tests to determine a drivers competency.  In DWI stops an officer typically analyzes the condition of a driver by other methods such as walking a straight line and hand/eye coordination tests before making them submit to a breathalyzer.

This law may not be ideal but the issue of “drugged driving” will always stand in the way of marijuana reform unless it is properly dealt with.  Marijuana DUI laws will hopefully evolve and perhaps even more reliable tests will be utilized in determining and individuals capacity to operate a motor vehicle.  In fact they will likely HAVE to evolve, because as the law stands (5 nanograms is considered a very low amount) anyone who uses marijuana may be prevented from driving legally.  Perhaps insurance and automaker lobbyists will be on the marijuana activist’s side.  In any case, we have accepted that politicians are not equipped with the foresight to legislate in the modern world so, for now the hope may have to be a law that can be tailored in the future.  Additionally, there are studies that show that legal medical marijuana states have experienced a decrease in fatal car accidents, likely due to less alcohol related incidents.  Of course other studies show marijuana increasing the risk for fatal car crashes even if overall accidents are down.  Because of this, a continuing conversation on marijuana and the dangers associated with driving needs to unfold.  However, without this first important step, marijuana reform will likely remain in the legal stalemate it currently suffers from.

As with many social issues that are on the political fringe, change occurs behind smoke and mirrors.  The White House has made it a point to urge states to enact drugged driving programs.  Additionally, President Barack Obama said he could only enforce the laws on the books and placed some blame on Congress in his recent Rolling Stone interview.  While none of this guarantees legalized federal marijuana laws, he may be setting the groundwork for a massive system addressing one of the biggest concerns of those in opposition to marijuana reform.

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