SAN DIEGO, Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ — San Diego DUI lawyer Lawrence Taylor claims that California DUI laws should not be applied to marijuana usage. Unlike alcohol and many drugs, he says, marijuana probably does not impair driving.

On the one hand, the California Department of Justice has found that marijuana impairs psychomotor abilities that are functionally related to driving, particularly at high-dose levels or among inexperienced users. (“Marijuana and Alcohol: A Driver Performance Study,” California Office of Traffic Safety Project No. 087902)

However, the San Diego DUI defense attorney points out, two federal studies contradict this.

In one, the U.S. Department of Transportation conducted DUI research with a fully interactive simulator on the effects of alcohol and marijuana, alone and in combination, on driver-controlled behavior and performance. Although alcohol was found consistently and significantly to cause impairment, marijuana had only an occasional effect.

Accidents and speeding tickets reliably increased with alcohol, but no marijuana or combined alcohol-marijuana influence was noted. (“The Effects of Alcohol on Driver-Controlled Behavior in a Driving Simulator, Phase I”(DOT-HS-806-414).)

Taylor, who heads a large firm of DUI attorneys with offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Riverside and San Francisco, points to another more recent report. Entitled “Marijuana and Actual Performance” (DOT-HS-808-078), it also found that “THC is not a profoundly impairing drug….It apparently affects controlled information processing in a variety of laboratory tests, but not to the extent which is beyond the individual’s ability to control when he is motivated and permitted to do so in driving.”

The researchers found that it “appears not possible to conclude anything about a driver’s impairment on the basis of his/her plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample.”

Sounds like a “whoo-hoo!” moment, huh?  Well, not so fast.  NORML’s Principles of Responsible Use states “The responsible cannabis consumer does not operate a motor vehicle or other dangerous machinery while impaired by cannabis.”

The $64,000 question*, then, is “what defines impaired?”  I can tell you that one puff off a vape bag full of Oregon’s finest will severely impair your average Kansas ditchweed smoker, while that same puff for a 5g/day Oregon patient won’t even break his concentration from completing the New York Times crossword.

The same phenomenon exists for alcohol; the alcoholic can seem perfectly capable with as many drinks under his belt as would knock out your average sorority sister.  But as a society, we decided that there should be an absolute measurable physical limit – .08 blood alcohol content – that defines impairment per se, that is, if you’re over .08 you’re too impaired even if you’re not really too impaired.

As always when there is a story about cannabis drug testing and driving, I called on NORML’s Deputy Director, Paul Armentano.  Here’s what he had to say:

As someone who is somewhat regularly brought in as a consultant for the defense in DUI-marijuana cases I can report, contrary to attorney Taylor’s claim [above], that there are in fact several available studies associating certain blood-THC levels (but not carboxy-THC levels) with psychomotor impairment and/or increased risk of traffic accident. These include:

• Drummer et al. 2004. The involvement of drugs in drivers killed in Australian road traffic crashes. Accident, Analysis and Prevention 36: 239-248.
• Grotenhermen et al. 2007. Developing per se limits for driving under cannabis. Addiction 102: 1910-1917.
• Bedard et al. 2007. The impact of cannabis on driving. Canadian Journal of Public Health 98: 6-11.
• Laumon et al. 2005. Cannabis intoxication and fatal road crashes in France: a population base case-control study. British Medical Journal 331: 1371-1377.
• Ramaekers et al. 2004. Dose related risk of motor vehicle crashes after cannabis use. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 73: 109-119.
• Khiabani et al. 2006. Relationship between THC concentration in blood and impairment in apprehended drivers. Traffic Injury Prevention 7: 111-116.

Remember that blood-THC is a measurement of the actual impairing substance (the metabolized 11-THC which is actually more psychoactive than the initial 9-THC that you inhale), while carboxy-THC (or THC-COOH) is the inactive metabolite they detect on the pee tests that doesn’t prove any impairment, only past use.

My personal preference would be that all chemical measurements of impairment, even blood-alcohol levels, be abandoned in favor of punishing people for actual impairment.  If a person is driving poorly enough to warrant a traffic stop and then cannot pass a field impairment test (walk the line, touch your nose, etc.) they should be busted for driving while impaired, no matter whether that impairment is alcohol, THC, anti-histamines, lack of sleep, or illness.

But since BAC measuring isn’t going anywhere, I suppose that we’ll have to adopt some measure of THC blood testing and some per se limit that defines impairment.  I’ll bet soon we’ll see a device like diabetics use to test blood sugar – one quick prick on the finger tip, a drop of blood on a test strip, and in 90 seconds we know what you’re on.

Well, it’s not that graphic, it’s just shocking.

I think the lesson here is: don’t drive stoned, but if you do, don’t stop to switch drivers!

The former head of a drug unit accused of possessing marijuana, drunken driving, resisting arrest and endangering children in February will resume working for the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday, but he’ll lose his rank as a lieutenant.

Lt. Joseph Guzdziol, 44, was sentenced on June 1 to two days in jail and nine months of probation on reduced charges as part of a plea agreement in 75th District Court in Bay City.

Since police pulled him over in Monitor Township, Guzdziol has been on leave without pay as head of the drug unit at the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff Mark Hackel said Guzdziol will return to work on Saturday as a corrections officer, an entry level position that pays about $30,000 a year, compared to his former $80,000-plus salary.

“It’s a very substantial demotion in this department, one that has never been seen before,” Hackel said today. “He no longer has rank.”

So instead of busting pot smokers as a pot smoker himself, he now gets to guard pot smokers in jail?  Are you completely guano loco?

Court records show that Guzdziol was pulled over by state troopers for suspicions of drunken driving while his three children — ages 3, 6 and 8 — were with him. When troopers tried to arrest him, he repeated he was a cop before refusing to be apprehended, according to court records. During the scuffle, troopers said Guzdziol broke a mirror off a police car.

A search of his truck revealed a pipe with marijuana residue, troopers said.

Show of hands – how many people here get to go back to their jobs after their boss learns they were drunk driving with their three young children and fighting cops during his arrest?  Anyone ?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?  How many think you only get two days in jail?  He should be driven from the shire by angry peasants with pitchforks and torches simply for the sheer hypocrisy of being the head of the drug unit busted drunk driving and the idiocy of having a used pipe in the car while doing it!  Man, that’s one hell of a police union there in Macomb County, ain’t it?

Holy shnikes! I think my next road trip home to visit the folks just got a whole lot more fun!*

(AP) In Idaho, you can drive high as long as you can drive straight.

Marijuana users can drive legally in the state as long as their driving isn’t erratic and they can pass a field sobriety test, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that while it is illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, Idaho law doesn’t list marijuana as a narcotic.

The ruling overturned an impaired driving conviction against Matthew Patzer, 21, who was stopped for a broken tailgate light in 1998 and admitted to police he’d smoked marijuana at a party. The appeals court said Patzer could not automatically be presumed impaired; he wasn’t driving erratically and passed two field sobriety tests.

“Given the distinction drawn by the statute, there is no basis to conclude that impairment may be presumed upon admission of use of a non-narcotic drug,” the appeals court wrote.

*Note: This is a joke.  NORML reminds you to never smoke and drive impaired.

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2009-01-19

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-01-19.mp3)

Today’s Stash celebrates the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the end of the Bush Administration, and the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama.  Despite some misgivings over Change.gov and cabinet appointments, I am so excited to see the new day dawning in America.  Yes, there are dark clouds hovering over us and worse storms ahead, but I can’t help but see the silver lining – that we just can no longer afford to arrest and lock up taxpayers for their cannabis use anymore, and we can no longer overlook an untaxed ecofriendly fuel-producing billion dollar crop anymore.  As Obama has said, this wasn’t about him, it was about us.  As Change.gov and Change.org have shown, we are ready to talk about legalization of marijuana!

It’s as if enough people who think the war on drugs is stupid have realized that enough people think the war on drugs is stupid.  We’ve realized that it’s OK to ask “Why are we arresting potheads?” and “How come we don’t just sell and tax pot?” without everyone thinking we, too, are potheads and even if we are, realizing that nobody gives a damn if you are so long as you do your job, pay your taxes, and be civilized.  Enough people have either smoked it, do smoke it, or know someone who smokes it to know the government is peddling nothing but lies to prop up a failed bureaucracy.  People know that one slacker stoner, but they also know ten more who are just regular working folks who toke.  People also know alcoholics and know they’d rather hang out with the slacker stoner, given a choice, and figure if we can tolerate alcohol, we can tolerate weed.

My guest today is Tom Daubert from Montana Patients and Families United (check ‘em out at http://mtpfu.org*) who is here to warn Big Sky listeners and rally Montanans to contact their state legislator to protest Senate Bill 212, which would strip medical marijuana patient protections for life if convicted of new cannabis DUI standards so strict no patient could ever pass.  In short: choose your drivers license or your marijuana license.

Then my full reading (with music and everything!) of my Cannabis Civil Rights essay posted below, if I may indulge, and in doing so, thank George Rohrbacher for inspiring me…

*That URL always cracks me up because the show Meet the Press is often abbreviated “MTP” on progressive lefty blogs I inhabit.

SB 212 – Hearing Next Tuesday Morning, Jan. 20th

Can you come to Helena very early next Tuesday – and stay until late afternoon or evening the following day?
 
We need help next Tuesday morning to oppose a terrible bill – SB 212 – that just moments ago was scheduled for hearing that morning.  (Info about SB 212 below.)
 
 Hearing: Senate Judiciary Committee, Room 303 of Capitol Building (“old Supreme Court chambers”)
 
When: 9 am, Tuesday, January 20
  
You can read SB 212 here:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billpdf/SB0212.pdf <http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billpdf/SB0212.pdf> 
 
SB 212 would require THC blood-testing of any registered patient/caregiver found or thought by law enforcement officials to be driving “under the influence” (which already is illegal under the law).  Meanwhile, the THC threshold specified in the bill is extremely low – so low that most bona fide patients would fail the blood test even if they hadn’t medicated for a day or longer.  And the bill’s penalty for failing the THC blood test – loss of patient privileges for life.

This bill violates privacy (and other constitutional) rights, and would carry penalties that are truly unprecedented.
 
Consider:  A person guilty of multiple drunk-driving incidents can lose his/her driver’s license – and might even serve time in jail – but would NOT permanently be forbidden to drink alcohol.  A person who committed driving violations while under the influence of too many prescription pain relievers might similarly lose driving rights for a period of time – but would NEVER lose the basic human right to receive needed prescription medicine from a physician.
 
Patients & Families United will strongly oppose this bill, as you might imagine.
 
Senate Judiciary Committee

Please call your friends and relatives and ask them to help us defeat SB 212.  Everyone who cares about the welfare of patients should call to leave messages for members of the Senate Judiciary Committee urging a “Do Not Pass” committee vote.
 
The number to call to leave messages for legislators is: 406-444-4800.

Committee members who should receive messages are:
 
Sen. Gary Perry, chairman (R-Manhattan)
Sen. Jim Shockley, vice-chair (R-Victor)
Sen. Aubyn Curtiss (R-Fortine)
Sen. John Esp (R-Big Timber)
Sen. Greg Hinkle (R-Thompson Falls)
Sen. Larry Jent (D-Bozeman)
Sen. Carol Juneau (D-Browning)
Sen. Jesse Laslovich (D-Anaconda)
Sen. Dan McGee (R-Laurel)
Sen. Lynda Moss (D-Billings)
Sen. Terry Murphy (R-Cardwell)

And if you can stay in Helena for an extra day, there is HB 73 which you can lend your support to:

Hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 21 on PFU’s HB 73

Next Wednesday, January 21, the first of two medical marijuana improvement bills that Patients & Families United has developed – HB 73 – will be heard by the House Human Services Committee.

See the news/alert we sent last night for more detailed information.

You can read HB 73 here: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billpdf/HB0073.pdf

Details on the hearing:

Time: 3 pm, Wednesday January 21

Where: Room 157, ground floor of capitol building

Patients & Families United will host a lunch in Helena for those who can join us for the hearing. The lunch will begin at 11:30 am and end by 1:30 pm, leaving us plenty of time to get to the capitol and “take charge” of the hearing room before legislators arrive. More info on the lunch location as the day approaches.

Again, the members of the committee who need to receive phone messages urging a “Do Pass” recommendation for HB 73 are:

House Human Services Committee
Arlene Becker, chairperson (D-Billings)
Mary Caffero, vice-chair (D-Helena)
Pat Ingraham, vice-chair (R-Thompson Falls)
Bill Beck (R-Whitefish)
Julie French (D-Scobey) – our bill’s sponsor!
Tim Furey (D-Milltown)
David Howard (R-Park City)
Chuck Hunter (D-Helena)
Dave McAlpin (D-Missoula)
Michael More (R-Gallatin Gateway)
Pat Noonan (D-Ramsay)
Ken Peterson (R-Billings)
Diane Sands (D-Missoula)
Cary Smith (R-Billings)
Ron Stoker (R-Darby)
Jeff Wellborn (R-Dillon)

To leave a message for these legislators, call: 406-444-4800.

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2008-12-16.mp3)

On today’s Stash I bring you stories.  First in Hemp Headlines I tell the story of the Marine corporal who lost all his military benefits for a doobie.  Then, Ken Wolski from Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey is here to tell the story of Mike Miceli, a medical marijuana patient.  Finally, Brian Michaels, a defense attorney in Eugene, Oregon, appeared on the legal panel of the Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards to discuss DUII and medical marijuana.