Kentucky legislators continue to try and misuse the state’s traffic safety laws to target adults who use marijuana responsibly in the privacy of their own home. Please help us stop them.
Several weeks ago we wrote you about Senate Bill 5, an act to criminalize anyone who operates a motor vehicle with any detectable level of marijuana in their blood.
On Tuesday, March 10, proponents attached SB 5 as an amendment to House Bill 369. Because HB 369 overwhelmingly passed the House, the amended version may enjoy enough support to pass the Senate; however, it must be called to the Senate floor for a vote before Friday or it dies.
If passed, this amendment would mandate criminal penalties for any person who operates a motor vehicle with any measurable level of THC in their blood. This proposal would improperly impact cannabis consumers because THC can remain detectable at low levels in the blood of daily marijuana users for up to 1 or 2 days after past use. In the case of chronic smokers, THC may be detectable in the blood for even longer periods of time.
Someone who smokes marijuana is impaired as a driver — at most — for a few hours, not days. To treat marijuana smokers as if they are impaired, even when the drug’s effects have long worn off, is illogical and unfair.
Please write your legislators today and urge them to oppose Senate Floor Amendment 1 (HB 369 SFA1). For your convenience, a pre-written letter will be e-mailed to your elected
officials when you go here. http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=12671761
After you have sent your legislators an e-mail, please follow up with a phone call to your state senator and ask him or her to vote “no” on HB 369, Senate Floor Amendment 1. Time is of the essence, so please write and call today.
Thank you for supporting NORML’s marijuana law reform efforts in Kentucky.
