understand how marijuana use impairs driving. The study is the largest of its kind and seeks to gather some hard data on levels of cannabis and impacts on common driving scenarios, according to High Times. Participants will be paid for a full-day driving assessment in which they will smoke a joint before completing a variety of simulated driving scenarios. The joints are rolled on site, and each has a varying level of THC concentrations carefully monitored by the researchers.

The study has two aims: to gather data on how different cannabis concentrations affect different drivers and to examine how long the high from THC will continue to affect the driver to the point of impairment, if at all. These answers are so crucial in the on-going efforts to legalize marijuana nationwide. A huge roadblock for many politicians, even the ones who do not fall for weak anti-marijuana propaganda, is the uncertainty about how to regulate marijuana usage on the roads. Methods that commonly are used to test for marijuana can detect it in a person’s system for up to two weeks. Clearly a person would not be too impaired to drive for 14 days after consuming marijuana. Therefore, law enforcement officers must rely on field sobriety tests to determine cannabis-related impairment. Their current tests, however, are largely geared toward alcohol or drugs that create a deep level of impairment. The effects of cannabis are often softer and less clear. Participants in this study will take a field sobriety test after smoking and completing driving tests, which in turn could help officers fine-tune their own tests to more effectively identify impairment for marijuana users.Besides regulation efforts, most marijuana consumers are responsible users who want information on how to best monitor themselves and make good decisions about driving. When a person is given a strong prescription, the label has a warning if the patient should not drive or operate machinery. Alcohol labels show the proof on the label, and people begin to learn even before they are 21 about the ways alcohol affects the body and how to safely consume it once they hit a legal age. Cannabis users want similar safety information, and they want it to be realistic and not overly cautious to the point of ridiculousness.

This study will just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to analyzing cannabis use and driving. As our L.A. marijuana DUI lawyers know, there are many more ways to consume cannabis than just smoking a joint, and each one affects the body differently. Edibles, vaping, lotions, tinctures — they each vary greatly in the ways they work, how long they take to feel the effects, and how long the sensation lasts. This study is an important beginning to research into cannabis safety, but there will be much more work ahead of us. Our team of marijuana DUI defense attorneys understand the many factors at play when it comes to marijuana and driving. If you are arrested for a cannabis-related DUI, our attorneys are prepared to use our vast knowledge and experience to build your case.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients, defendants, workers and those facing criminal marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Massive Study On Driving High To Take Place In California, July 27, 2018, By Paul Gaita, The Fix

More Blog Entries:

Pennsylvania Must Ditch Harsh Marijuana DUI Law, June 17, 2018, Cannabis Law Group

When someone is driving while intoxicated by liquor, there is no question as to the effects alcohol has on a person’s ability to drive, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has amassed decades of research. For example, at .08, which is the legal limit in California, a person will have poor muscle coordination, having trouble detecting danger, a lack of judgement and self-control, impaired ability to concentrate and many other physical and mental issues that makes it dangerous to drive. As our Los Angeles marijuana DUI defense attorneys can explain, it should be much harder to prove that a person was under the influence of marijuana at the time they were driving. The tests that are currently used, including blood or urine, will tell that a person had used marijuana at some point in the past few weeks, but it will not tell whether the person was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the arrest. This is because the test is looking for a metabolite of THC, and not THC itself.

According to a recent news article form Marketplace, legal marijuana industry in California and across the country is creating a need for some type of rapid testing instrument that can tell if a person is currently under the influence of THC such as a marijuana breathalyzer.

There are already some marijuana testing devices on the market such one that tests saliva, but that only tests for the presence of THC and it does not detect levels of intoxication. This also leads to another issues in that there is no set standard for how marijuana effects the human body at different levels. One person may have a very different tolerance than another and, unlike with alcohol, we do not have decades of research. Most people would not even know what scale would be used to measure marijuana intoxication.

There is a company in Canada that is working on an actual marijuana breath test, it will be long time before it actually used and allowed in court as evidence, should that ever happen. Any attempt to introduce the scores of a marijuana breath test would be challenged as there would need to be a showing that the devices are accurate based upon peer-reviewed, repeatable results. This would take a long time to establish and there would be many challenges as the accuracy of the devices themselves even if the underlying science would proven sound.

The Los Angeles Cannabis Law Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Legal marijuana creates and industry for new breathalyzers, October 24, 2017, by Lauren Silverman, Marketplace

More Blog Entries:

Banking Regulations Leave the Marijuana Industry Subject to Violent Crime, August 14, 2017, by Cannabis Law Group

This might seem like common sense – or perhaps already covered under existing impaired driving laws – but legislators insist the law will close a gaping loophole left by Proposition 64, the ballot measure California voters approved in November that legalized marijuana for recreational use. Prop. 64 does ban the presence of an open container of marijuana in a vehicle, but it doesn’t say anything about using marijuana while driving.

The measure was proposed by two Democractic lawmakers, Assemblyman Evan Low and Senator Jerry Hill.

Drunk driving and impaired driving has been a signature issue for Hill, of San Mateo. He’s the one prevailed last year in his fight for a law that requires temporary breathalyzers in motor vehicles belonging to certain DUI offenders hoping to regain their driver’s license privileges. This technology, widely referred to as ignition interlock, disallows a vehicle from starting if a motorist’s blood-alcohol concentration is above the legal limit. Hill explained that driving under the influence of any substance puts us all at risk.

We don’t disagree with this statement, but marijuana users face difficulty in proving their innocence that drivers who use alcohol or other drugs do not. As it stands, currently law forbids driving while under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or other drugs – including those offered by prescription. However, there is no breathalyzer for marijuana the way there is for alcohol. Neither is there any sort of standard in place for an officer to ascertain a person’s level of marijuana impairment. It’s largely subjective.

Blood draws and urine tests are sometimes used, but the problem is the samples taken can’t stipulate whether someone is currently under the influence or if the drug was still in the body from some prior usage. Prop. 64 tasked researchers with the University of California and law enforcement officers with the California Highway Patrol with conjuring up the best practices and protocols for determining marijuana impairment. That work hasn’t yet begun, so we don’t know what that recommendation will look like.

We do know that if SB 65 passes, it will make using marijuana while operating a motor vehicle an infraction or misdemeanor charge that could result in fines and possibly jail time, in addition to requirements to attend drug and/or alcohol education and counseling courses. (Judges would be granted the discretion of whether to charge the defendant with an infraction or misdemeanor.)

Technology for roadside testing of marijuana consumption is still in the works.

Our marijuana DUI defense lawyers are committed to fighting for the rights of marijuana users arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence. We recognize that the proof burden is on prosecutors, and there are a number of possible defense strategies that can be effectively employed. These range from moving to suppress certain evidence (i.e., if the stop was unlawful, etc.) to challenging the veracity of the physical evidence.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

New California bill would explicitly prohibit marijuana consumption for drivers, Dec. 30, 2016, Bay City News 4

More Blog Entries:

Marijuana Industry Poised to Generate Many New Jobs, Jan. 4, 2017, L.A. Marijuana DUI Defense Lawyer Blog

But when it comes to driving while under the influence of marijuana, states are a bit all over the place. For example, there are six states in all that impose limits on how much THC (the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis) a driver may have in his or her system before he or she is deemed impaired. Twelve states have zero tolerance policies, which means any amount of THC in a driver’s blood is going to be used as proof the driver was impaired. The majority of states don’t have any concrete laws concerning marijuana and motorists, say the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA).

The primary issue is the point at which a driver is considered “impaired.” A recent analysis conducted by Nerdwallet revealed that while the standards ascertaining intoxication vary wildly, the one thing any driver arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana can expect: Higher auto insurance rates.

Drivers convicted of operating a vehicle under the influence of marijuana are going to pay court costs and fines, drug treatment program costs, probably a driver’s license reinstatement fee and other penalties. A single first-time offense can easily result in several thousand dollars lost – an expense most people can scarcely afford. All that seems especially unfair when we know that the process for determining impairment is so unreliable. Unlike alcohol, which is processed quickly through the bloodstream, THC lingers in the body for days or even weeks. That means someone who used the drug a week ago could still have it in his or her system, even though they are in no way impaired and even when they are consuming the drug for medicinal purposes.

In California, auto insurance rates were the most keenly affected by a medical marijuana DUI. The average driver in California with a clean driving record is going to pay about $1,133 annually on car insurance. By contrast, an average driver who has one conviction for driving under the influence of drugs is going to pay about $2,636 a year – a 132 percent increase. Someone with a second driving under the influence of drugs conviction is going to pay about $2,985 a year for car insurance, which is another 13 percent increase, and a 163 percent increase from the original. That’s more than anywhere else in the country.

Some drivers think that they may be better off simply pleading guilty to spare themselves the legal expenses. But when you look at it like this, that conviction ends up being more costly than it might have seemed at first blush. Plus, many drivers facing DUI charges overlook the fact that there are a host of valid and often successful defenses that can be employed, particularly in a case that alleges marijuana intoxication. Again, it all goes back to the arbitrary nature of those aforementioned THC limits. California doesn’t have any such limits, but prosecutors will still often argue that any marijuana in one’s system is proof of impairment. It’s not.

If you are arrested for marijuana DUI in L.A., we can help.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

A Few Hundred Good Reasons to Avoid a Marijuana DUI, Aug. 16, 2016, By Alex Glenn, NerdWallet

More Blog Entries:

Marijuana Legalization and Employer Drug-Testing Policies, Aug. 4, 2016, L.A. Marijuana Lawyer Blog