Colorado Legislators Try to Extend DUI Arrests to Marijuana Users

[Skip_In_Boulder]

The drug warriors are alive and well in Colorado. Only this Senate bill was orginally started in the Colorado House by Democrate Claire Levy.


Colorado Legislators Try to Extend DUI Arrests to Marijuana Users


Advocates of legalized marijuana use in Colorado found support from a surprising source last week after a conservative lawmaker voted against a proposed bill that would expand the list of DUI offenses to include the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

According to a report from The Colorado Statesman, Sen. Tim Neville, a Republican legislator from Littleton, Colorado, surprised observers when he was the only member of the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee to vote against the bill.

The DUI bill, Senate Bill 117, was ultimately passed by the committee after a marathon seven-hour debate. The bill will now begin making its way around the Colorado legislature, but it has already spurred heated debate in Colorado.

Under the terms of the proposed bill, Neville claims that legal medical marijuana users could face DUI prosecution even if they are not under the influence of marijuana at the time of their encounter with the police.

The bill suggests that marijuana users could be arrested for a DUI if they have a certain amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in their blood. Critics of the proposed law, however, observe that it can take longer than four weeks for THC to completely remove itself from a user’s system.

Source: http://www.totaldui.com/blog/colorado-legislators-try-to-extend-dui-arrests-to-marijuana-users/

[anti-alec]

1. Again?

The legislation will flop again.

There's no way to accurately measure if the person is driving high or just high in general.

<- Daily smoker, and no tickets for the last 3 years. (knock on wood)

(EDIT)Any draconian drug/alcohol based testing legislation they write, they ought to test it on THEMSELVES first - alcohol, pot, coke, heroin, cigarettes - anything. That should teach them not to draft idiotic legislation which has no merit, and will be rejected any competent judge as unconstitutional.

[sabbat hunter]

2. I support legalization of marijuana

but if you are driving under the influence, you should face the same penalties as you would under other drugs.
I have smoked in the past, would so so again if it was legal (or easier to find), but I regret any time that I drove while high.

[Th1onein]

3. But that's not what they are measuring.

You regret it when you drove under the influence of marijuana, but did you regret driving every day for a month after your drove under the influence? Also, people process THC differently, depending on their body mass index. The fatter, the slower they will process the THC out of their cells. Should they just give all fat pot smokers DUIs now, and get it over with?

[notadmblnd]

5. I would also add that our bodies naturally produce endocannibinoids

so theoretically one could test positive and have never touched the stuff.

[notadmblnd]

4. Most any drug has the potential to impair driving. Drugs like coumidin or lipitor simple cough syrup

Drugs like coumidin and heperin are blood thinners that many elderly take. Lipitor, a drug for high cholesterol can cause symptom that can impair driving. Cough syrup or antihistamines can also impair driving. Then you got all your anti depressants (that people eat like candy these days) xanax, valium are just a couple. So many people are under the influence of something while driving that blood test would be necessarty for anyone pulled over for a traffic infraction. Is that really where we want to go with all this nonsense? Hell even viagra can cause dizzyness

[kestrel91316]

6. They are trying to do that in CA, too.....

trying to pass a law that any THC/related metabolites in your blood means you are impaired. This ignores the fact that those substances can persist in your blood for up to a month after a single use.

And your third conviction on this sort of DUI would mean permanent revocation of your DL or some such draconian nonsense. Even if you have never been close to clinically impaired while driving. It would essentially criminalize all MMJ use by legitimate patients.

[Skip_In_Boulder]

7. Well here is a chart showing the 13 States

they have already done this in. Notice that 10 states have a Zero THC level that is acceptable. So I guess if you got a whiff a couple of weeks ago and got pulled over, well to bad.

[kestrel91316]

8. I guess I wasn't clear. It appears that the proposed CA law would make the presence of

any INACTIVE metabolites in the blood a DUI. It would be the strictest law in the nation. It would apply to MMJ patients the same as the general public.

[ges5626sek]

9. nvm