“In a last ditch effort to push the bad “zero-tolerance” DUI bill through the Kentucky Legislature, proponents of SB 5 have now attached this misguided legislation to yet another House bill – HB 315 – in the form of a floor amendment. HB 315 SFA1 now joins HB 369 SFA1 as the vehicle for a horrible proposal that would punish the prior use of controlled substances like marijuana with an automatic DUI conviction, regardless of whether the driver was actually impaired.”
Once again we urge you to call your Kentucky legislators and let them know what a bad idea “zero tolerance” is and that this bill will guarantee that innocent people will be prosecuted.
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 5:21 pm | By: Radical Russ
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.
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.
Monday, March 9th, 2009 at 1:50 pm | By: Radical Russ
Oppose Zero Tolerance ‘Drugged’ Driving Bill In Kentucky — House Judiciary Committee May Vote TOMORROW!
Kentucky legislators are trying to misuse the state’s traffic safety laws to target adults who use marijuana responsibly in the privacy of their own home. It’s up to you to stop them.
Senate Bill 5, an act to criminalize anyone who operates a motor vehicle with any detectable level of marijuana in their blood, was recently approved by the state Senate and is now before the House of Representatives. It is possible that members of this Committee are planning on voting on this measure TOMORROW!
It is imperative that you contact your elected officials today and urge them to stop this misguided campaign against responsible cannabis consumers.
If passed, Senate Bill 5 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.
In addition, Kentucky already has laws on the books targeting and prosecuting drivers who operate a motor vehicle “under the influence” of illicit drugs. Senate Bill 5 creates a separate crime of “drugged driving” that is, potentially, divorced from impairment and that could jail motorists for simply having consumed an illicit substance at some prior, unspecified date.
Senate Bill 5 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.
In addition, Kentucky already has effect-based laws on the books targeting and prosecuting drivers who operate a motor vehicle “under the influence” of illicit drugs. This is a multidisciplinary standard that focuses on the totality of circumstances — most importantly, that the driver is visibly impaired — and rightly punishes motorists who drive while impaired from having recently used illicit drugs. There is no need for additional legislation.”
Thank you for supporting NORML’s marijuana law reform efforts in Kentucky.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 5:26 pm | By: Radical Russ
New Hampshire Stashers, this Thursday there is a hearing on HB 575 . This bill would radically expand the New Hampshire DUI laws and enable police to conduct an unprecedented witch hunt on our roads and highways.
The public hearing for this bill is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 5, at 11:00 in the Legislative Office Building (LOB) room 204. If you can attend this hearing of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, please do so. You will not have to speak, but it would be great to have as many people as possible sign the committee’s sign-in sheet registering their opposition to the bill.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 5:02 pm | By: Radical Russ
NORML regrets to inform you that Senate Bill 5, an act to criminalize anyone who operates a motor vehicle with any detectable level of marijuana in their blood, has been referred to the Kentucky Senate Rules Committee.
If passed, Senate Bill 5 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. (More information on this subject is available from NORML here.)
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.
In addition, Kentucky already has laws on the books targeting and prosecuting drivers who operate a motor vehicle “under the influence” of illicit drugs. Senate Bill 5 creates a separate crime of “drugged driving” that is, potentially, divorced from impairment and that could jail motorists for simply having consumed an illicit substance at some prior, unspecified date.
Please take a moment today to contact your elected officials and urge them to oppose Senate Bill 5. If your senator sits on the Senate Rules Committee then it is especially important that he or she hears from you. For your convenience, a pre-written letter will be e-mailed to your state representative when you enter your contact information below.
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 2:15 pm | By: Radical Russ
…Paul Armentano is the Deputy Director of NORML and the NORML Foundation in Washington, DC. Mr. Armentano is an expert in the field of marijuana policy, health, and pharmacology, and has served as a consultant for Health Canada, the Canadian Public Health Association, and The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Armentano has spoken at numerous national conferences and legal seminars, testified before state legislatures and federal agencies, and assisted dozens of criminal defense attorneys in cases pertaining to the use of medicinal cannabis, drug testing, and drugged driving. http://norml.org/
Troopers had found pot in the wreckage of the 2006 Toyota Avalon that was driven by Muneeb Kamal and were investigating whether he might have been under the influence of drugs when he crashed the car along Interstate 70 in Grand County.
But Kamal’s family said the car belonged to his boss, and Lt. Todd Peterson confirmed the car was registered to a third party.
Additionally, Kamal’s toxicology test results were negative, showing he was not under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine, morphine, opiate pain pills or marijuana.
Troopers believe Kamal might have dozed off behind the wheel, causing his car to drift off the road’s left shoulder. Kamal drove the Avalon into a reflector post along the highway before swerving back to the right, which sent the car spinning and sliding off the road’s right side. The car rolled down an embankment, ejecting Kamal, who was not wearing a seatbelt, according to troopers.
“Unfortunately, there were no witnesses, but the evidence we found on scene is very indicative of someone falling asleep at the wheel,” Peterson said Monday afternoon. “All we can go off of is the evidence at the scene, and there was no indication of another vehicle or any other problem. It had rained the night before, so weather may have been a factor.”
But how many other similar incidents of accidents due to falling asleep at the wheel have been falsely attributed to marijuana use? As we all know, a positive test on a urine screen or blood screen is not necessarily proof of the driver’s level of impairment behind the wheel. But if the car had been registered to Kamal or his urine had turned up positive for marijuana metabolites, this sad story would be beaten to death by the prohibitionists as another example of the danger of marijuana drivers behind the wheel (who actually turn out to be some of the safer drivers out on the road).
Tyler R. Sutton, 18, pleaded guilty this morning in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 to three counts of operating a vehicle with a controlled substance causing death and feticide, all Class C felonies.
If Judge Thomas Busch accepts Sutton’s plea with the Tippecanoe County prosecutor’s office, at least two of those counts would have to be served concurrently – meaning the former North Montgomery High School student could spend up to 16 years in prison.
Toxicology tests taken after the crash showed that Sutton had marijuana metabolites in his blood, though Sutton’s Indianapolis-based attorney, Dennis Zahn, disputed in court that the drug was present in the teen’s urine.
Indiana law requires only that narcotic metabolites be present to establish impaired driving.
Though Sutton also admitted to smoking marijuana, he said today that it was his first and only time.
The teenager was 17 years old at the time of crash, but juvenile court Judge Loretta Rush waived him to adult court in March.
Indiana is one of the states with a per se DUID statute. In layman’s terms, that means if you test positive for any drug metabolite, you’ve been driving impaired in the eyes of the law. That’s metabolites, not the actual drug, as would be the case with someone failing an alcohol breathalyzer.
In the case of marijuana, inactive, non-impairing marijuana metabolites can remain detectable in one’s system for weeks days. Tyler Sutton was no more [likely to be] an impaired driver than any other sober driver on the road; he just had the misfortune to smoke a joint a couple of weeks days prior to the wreck
[UPDATE: NORML’s Paul Armentano email’s me to say “No way marijuana metabolites are present in the blood two weeks later. Huestis’s work documented residual THC-COOH metabolite levels in blood for 72+ hours (THC and 11-hydroxy THC were purged within hours), but two weeks?
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I’m just about caught up on all the media processing. Check out the National NORML YouTube Page and you can see all the videos I’ve been uploading from the Aspen Legal Seminar. Also, check out the Aspen Legal Seminar Archive I’ve put together. I’ll be adding more audio, video, and photos as I process them.
Today I’m giving you a two-part presentation from Paul Armentano’s seminar on the latest DUID laws and the studies on cannabis and driving. Yes, they really want to take your license even if you never drive stoned.
Plus we’ve got some good new rock and roll from Skracht Apple, and a new segment on the Stash – Stupid Stoner Stories. I hope you enjoy, and take it as it’s meant – we’ve got to hold ourselves up to a, ahem, higher standard. That means no dope in court!
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
SneakerPimp: and good afternoon
mr reuben: I could do without seeing Rob K. on tv. But Bruce and Eithan get a big thumbs up from me.
SneakerPimp: waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
mr reuben: I don't respect her opinion bluzguy.
Missippi Hippy: Something about the last year in a contract... folks become more ballsey... and Oprah has big ones.
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Kentucky Legislators desperate to pass zero-tolerance drugged driving bill before Friday deadline
This just in from Nathan Miller at MPP:
waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
Fresh Stash V RSS Feed
Loading ...
; is she incognito like me 
, or can...
