Lawmakers Reject DUI Bill For Medical Marijuana Again
With the growth of medical marijuana dispensaries and in patients using the drug, Colorado authorities said monthly arrests for suspected DUI violations have increased from 60 to 600, and prosecuting those cases has become more difficult.
Authorities have promoted passage of a bill in the legislature that would establish a minimum marijuana-blood limit, similar to the current blood-alcohol limit of .08 per milliliter of blood.
On Tuesday, however, during a legislative special session, the measure failed for the third time. The margin was by one vote in the Senate. One senator was absent from the session.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” said El Paso County District Attorney Dan May. “Once again, the legislature has failed the citizens of the state of Colorado. By not (passing the bill), jurors are left to wonder, people smoking marijuana are left to wonder, and law enforcement… our hands are tied. We’re losing cases without having that level.”
The bill would have set the minimum marijuana-blood limit at 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and the time of its effect on the body can vary, depending on the patient and the manner in which the drug is taken.
The proposed limit would have made Colorado the third state having such a law, and been the highest level in the nation. Without the law, May said law enforcement officers are limited in test results provided by a field sobriety test.
“There is one test that (shows) you’re under the influence of marijuana, but it can’t tell you to what level,” said May.
Michael Scudder, owner of A Wellness Centers, a Colorado Springs dispensary, said he doesn’t know much about the specifics of the bill but is glad it didn’t pass.
“Marijuana affects people differently than alcohol,” said Scudder. “Arrests for driving while impaired under the influence of marijuana, and whether or not the person was impaired, are two different things that research, not law enforcement, would determine. I don’t think that research has been done.”
The bill was authored by Mark Waller, a Republican representative from Colorado Springs.
