You get stopped and ticketed for the mistake you make while driving, not for being angry or sleepy.

because sleepy people do not drive well...so if someone is swerving, we wait until he runs into something?

if they could come up with a test for being sleepy, wouldn't it be alright to arrest someone that is driving normal, no mistakes, for driving while tired? Most folks arrested for impaired driving are pulled over for making a mistake that can be ticketed anyway. I would rather that if one is weaving, crossing the center line or driving in the dark without their lights on, that they get a ticket for the offense and not be allowed to continue driving at the time. I use to drink and smoke and as I remember, the only problem with smoking and driving is that I may have been overly careful when stoned, i.e. driving too slow. Not so much with booze.

they do, happens to truckers all the time.

But, if I was to be given a drug test right now I would test positive. I'm not sure how they will test it, but I don't think anymore people will be driving stoned than there is right now.

I went to court one time as a witness and I saw a guy who had refused a breathalizer get convicted for a DUI anyway due to the field sobriety test.

If they do a face-plant reaching for the triangles of cheesy golden crunchiness they're assumed to be stoned?

not that I've ever done something like that in a moment of weakness....

What if we simultaneously played the bells opening of Pink Floyd's Time? Stoners would freeze with that look on their face until the bells subsided, while dieters would keep going for the chips?

Of course the private prison industry will work to lower all the limits in order for themselves to make more money off their prisons at our country's and countrymen's expense.

we are, after all, talking about a legal substance, at least in my state.

Or breath strips, or lemon juice to screw up the results of a saliva test.

There isn't any method to check if someone is high or stoned scientifically, as far as I know. There isn't any machine the cops could use that would be comparable to a breathalizer. If a person passes the field sobriety test, it doesn't seem like the cops would have grounds to arrest somebody for DUI. The most they could do is prevent them from driving anymore that day/night.

But let's say someone fails the FST and the cops take them for a blood test to determine if they're intoxicated. Would the test be able to show that their THC level was especially elevated at the time? I mean, how would the test determine if the driver had just smoked a joint before driving or if they smoked it the day before? I'll bet this vexes the hell out of law enforcement. Just think how much money they'll lose if people stop drinking and driving and start smoking pot!

We run drug tests on our patients and new employees,it's the common drug screen used that is accepted in court, they don't test the level of drug in the system, I don't see how anyone could test the level of thc in someone's system or when they used, just if it's present. And I don't know any test used in the field that tests for thc, it is urine or blood test.
I will admit that once I thought I drove better after dropping acid, that was 40 years ago so I lived to tell the tale but in my experience there's no telling what irrational decisions folks will make.

they simply state whether a user has more or less that the threshold determined in the test kit, IIRC typically 5ng for typical pre-employment tests. you can specify the level desired. part of the problem is the typically used level means little because it is one that was established to determine presence of THC, which doesn't work when it is legal to use. a test needs to prove impairment, because THC does not affect all users the same, hence the original question.

There's a FAQ up at a state government website specific to the new marijuana laws.

Most police departments in rural towns and probably most larger cities simply cannot afford the test. As this becomes a more widespread issue, the cost of the blood test will come down, I bet.
The first breathalyzer machines were expensive as well.

whatever is considered impaired. THEY DON'T HAVE A CLUE. I have 200 milligrams in me right now, I just got out of bed and haven't smoked anything. And I am not stoned. AND WHEN I SMOKE MY MORNING BOWL AND HAVE A CUP OF DECAF I STILL WON'T BE IMPAIRED. This is going to get interesting. People who know absolutely nothing about marijuana are trying to make laws. Those laws are needed to keep the prisons full, one way or another. I have smoked for 46 years and I dare anyone to prove I am impaired. The police are impaired with IGNORANCE.

In CO they just spitballed legal levels and ignored the issue of how long mj stays in the system.

Your las point is what our struggle as liberals is all about. That kind of capitalism must be stopped; it's just a crime.

Last edited Thu Mar 6, 2014, 05:38 PM - Edit history (1)

have you considered two things;

One, just like some people have a tolerance for alcohol, you may have a higher tolerance for cannabis?

Two: How do you know you won't be impaired? At best, you are gambling that you are not, and I would not want to bet someone's life on a gamble.

Pot is NOT as strong as it used to be. Back in the day, you could look at someone and tell they were high. Today, it's not possible.

Yet to be tested by Supremes--that will be fun.

are high too

If they blood test you and marijuana is in your system, even from a month ago, not active, it's still a dui.

Now that is fucked up.

Still gonna fill the for profit prisons. That, never went away.

-p

DUI is criminal BECAUSE it causes demonstrable harm. It's not outlawed because folks sat around a table-- or a discussion forum-- and thought to themselves "we can only have legal alcohol sales if we can monitor and regulate driving under the influence." That might sound elementary, but it is important: DUI laws are enacted in response to a real problem. They're enacted because people driving drunk cause massive mayhem, death, and destruction.

So first question, is this also a problem with cannabis consumption? How many highway deaths and injuries are attributed to cannibis intoxication annually?

and if you cannot drive, you run people over or crash, does not matter if it is weed or cough syrup.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20140204/fatal-car-crashes-involving-pot-use-have-tripled-in-us-study-finds

http://norml.org/library/item/marijuana-and-driving-a-review-of-the-scientific-evidence

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722956/