Chemical tests are highly unreliable when it comes to showing impairment due to marijuana.
After the most recent election day in November 2016, many Californians celebrated the legalization of marijuana. While medical marijuana use had long been permitted in California, this election found the majority of California voters in favor of legalizing marijuana for all purposes.
While many people enjoy using marijuana for medical and/or recreational purposes, legalization does raise certain issues when it comes to DUI cases. Regardless of whether or not marijuana is legal in California, it is still illegal to drive under the influence of drugs to the extent that your ability to drive with the care and caution of a sober person is impaired. But how can it be proven that you were too impaired to drive?
The science behind the testing of a person’s level of marijuana is complicated. While a test can determine the level of THC (marijuana’s active ingredient) in the bloodstream, that does not prove that a person was actually impaired. So even if California were to set a legal limit for marijuana and driving — as other states such as Colorado and Washington have done — it does not necessarily mean that a person with that level of THC in their blood was too impaired to drive.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has noted that legal limits for marijuana and driving are arbitrary and unsupported by science. According to its research, the tests for marijuana levels are limited and cannot be utilized in the same way as chemical tests for blood alcohol content. That is because unlike alcohol, which moves throughout the body in a predictable way, THC tends to concentrate in fatty tissues. A test that shows THC in a person’s body does not mean that it was affecting a person’s central nervous system; it could just be stored in the person’s tissues and not actually impacting their ability to drive.
There are other issues with the science of marijuana testing. Unlike alcohol, THC leaves the blood stream quickly. This means that in order to get an accurate reading of how much THC is in a person’s system, a blood test would have to be taken within an hour of driving. But even if a blood test is taken quickly, it does not mean that it is accurate. As discussed above, THC tends to be stored in fatty tissues and cells. That means that a person can show levels of THC in their blood for weeks after smoking or eating marijuana.
The upshot of this study is that there is no reliable way to determine if a person was impaired when driving after having marijuana in some form. While California does not yet have a legal limit for marijuana and driving, if it does establish one, a good DUI lawyer in Tustin, CA may be able to challenge the results rather easily. After all, if a test does not actually show that a person was under the influence of marijuana at the time that a person was driving — just that the person had ingested or smoked marijuana at some point, possibly weeks earlier — then it does not have much use as proof of a DUI of marijuana.
For now, prosecutors will likely rely on testimony about observations of a person to prove DUI of marijuana cases. Police officers will likely claim that a person had certain symptoms of being impaired due to marijuana, or that they were driving in an unsafe way. A skilled DUI lawyer in Tustin, CA will be able to rebut many of these allegations, and may be able to negotiate a reduction or dismissal of charges as a result.
If you have been charged with a DUI of marijuana, contact the Chambers Law Firm at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com. We will vigorously defend you by challenging the results of any chemical test, demonstrating that these tests are not accurate and do not actually prove that you were impaired. Contact us today for a free initial consultation!
