More States Legalize Marijuana Use, But Can Still Arrest High Drivers for DUI

More states are legalizing marijuana, whether it is for medical or recreational use. So far, 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana use for medical reasons, while Washington State and Colorado have legalized recreational use of the controversial drug. The increase in legalization across the country has sparked a debate with federal drug agents, because marijuana use, regardless of reason, is still illegal at the federal level. States that have legalized the drug have put strict limits on how much a person can possess before they are breaking the law.

What few people have considered, however, is that marijuana users can still be arrested for DUI, even if they have not consumed alcohol.

While most people associate DUI with binge drinking, the acronym simply stands for “Driving Under the Influence,” regardless of what that influence is. The intoxicant influencing the driver most often is alcohol, but it could also be marijuana, even if the drug is legal for recreational use in that state.

For example, in Seattle, WA, DUI Officer Mike Lewis regularly pulls over stoned drivers, who often respond with, “But it’s legal.”

When Initiative 502 passed in Washington state last November, the law defined DUI with marijuana charges. Like a blood alcohol content test, marijuana-related DUI is defined as a blood content of five nanograms of THC per milliliter of whole blood. Colorado’s law puts the same limits on marijuana DUI.

Officer Lewis and about 200 other police officers in Seattle have been trained as “drug-recognition experts,” or DREs, who can make the determination onsite if a driver is too drunk or high to drive. This helps take pressure off the court system after the US Supreme Court determined that police officers nationally must have a warrant before they can administer a blood test for DUI.

Marijuana-Related DUI Could Be Argument Against Legalization

The results of a 10-year study in Sweden regarding DUI were published recently, forcing several countries to question their DUI and drug policies. Published in 2004, the study looked at 8,700 DUI drug cases, and found that “It was virtually impossible to agree upon the concentration of a psychoactive substance in blood that leads to impairment in the vast majority of people,” and recommended zero tolerance policies as the most effective DUI prevention method.

In the US, the National Transportation Safety Board recently recommended that the blood alcohol content be lowered from 0.08 to 0.05. If the tolerance for alcohol is lowered, where should policy makers draw the line for marijuana DUI?

“Because smoked THC is rapidly transferred into the bloodstream, THC levels in the blood rise quickly immediately after inhalation. Depending on the dose, THC typically reaches peak concentrations of more than 100 ng/mL five to 10 minutes after inhalation and then rapidly decreases to between one and four ng/mL within three to four hours. However, heavy marijuana users’ blood can contain detectable amounts of THC even after periods of abstention,” according to the Marijuana Policy Report.

“I don’t want impaired drivers on the road. The key in my mind is looking at whether somebody really is or is not impaired. If they’re impaired, I don’t care which drug impaired them,” said Lenny Frieling, a medical marijuana advocate and Colorado attorney.

The Strom Law Firm Can Help with Marijuana or DUI Charges in South Carolina

There are still 30 states in the US that consider marijuana use completely illegal, and South Carolina is one of them. Drivers under the influence of marijuana face not only DUI charges, but harsher charges such as possession, or, if the amount on their person is large enough, trafficking.

The marijuana trafficking and possession lawyers at the Strom Law Firm, LLC are dedicated to protecting the rights of our clients, providing aggressive representation grounded in our years of experience building and interpreting the laws of South Carolina. Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss the facts of your case. 803.252.4800