Cops Looking To Catch Marijuana DUIs

A July 3, 2011 LA Times article reported the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 16.3% of all drivers nationwide at night were on various legal and illegal impairing drugs, half them stoned out of their mind on marijuana.

In California , nearly 1,000 deaths and injuries each year are blamed directly on drugged drivers, according to CHP data, and law enforcement puts much of the blame on the rapid growth of medical marijuana use in the last decade.

As the medical marijuana movement has gained speed, the feds are pursuing scientific research into the impairing effects of marijuana.

The US Department Of Justice most likely overlooked the study already done by the California Department Of Justice where the California Highway Patrol failed to find any general correlation between marijuana use and driving ability, except that some people drive BETTER after ingesting marijuana. (Biasotti, A.A., Bloand, P., Mallory, C., Peck, R., and Reeve, V.C., Marijuana and Alcohol: A Driver Performance Study, A Final Report (Sacramento, CA: Cal. Dept. of Justice, 9/86).

The LA Times article says the issue is compounded by the lack of a national standard on the amount of the marijuana that drivers should be allowed to have in their blood.

While 13 states have adopted zero-tolerance laws, 35 states including California have no formal standard, and instead rely on the judgment of police to determine impairment.

Even the most cautious approach of zero tolerance has complex medical issues about whether residual low levels of marijuana can impair a driver days after the drug is smoked.

Marijuana advocates say some state and federal officials are trying to make it impossible for individuals to use marijuana and drive legally for days or weeks after using their medicine.

If you have been arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana or drugs or alcohol, contact the law firm with over 80 years of criminal defense experience to defend your case.