If I'm a Medical Marijuana User in Michigan, Can I Drive My Vehicle Legally?

The simple answer to the question is now a positive “no”. On April 18th, 2012 the Court of Appeals decided that no motorist can have any THC in their system while driving and this includes patients of the Medical Marijuana act in Michigan. Before this ruling, the state still had the “zero tolerance” law which prohibited motorists from operating a vehicle with a schedule 1 controlled substance in their body, but the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act overruled this so patients could still legally drive. Now the courts have ruled that this zero tolerance law applies to both non-patients and patients of medical marijuana.

This new ruling essentially makes it illegal for medical marijuana patients to drive. THC stays in the body for an inordinate amount of time compared to other substances such as alcohol and other schedule 1 drugs. The general rule of thumb is that THC stays in your system for roughly a month after ingestion. This means that you could be charged with a DUID or OWI even if you haven’t used marijuana in the last 2 weeks. Obviously ingesting it 2 weeks ago does not affect your driving as the effects only last a few hours, but this didn’t deter the Court of Appeals.

This case which went to the Court of appeals was when Richard Koon was charged with driving under the influence. Police indicated that Koon was speeding. In fact, he was going 83 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour speed limit according to the police report. There is no doubting that he deserved a speeding ticket, but it is questionable whether marijuana was the factor which made him unsafe to drive. He admitted to using marijuana much earlier in the day and drinking just one beer. Koon is a medical marijuana patient and followed all legal procedures to attain his card. The officer at the scene ordered a blood test and of course it came back positive for marijuana. Like I stated earlier, he could have ingested the drug three weeks prior and the blood test would still have come back positive.

This zero tolerance application to patients of the MMMA completely restricts the freedoms of Michigan residents. The MMMA was passed by voters by a margin of 63% and the Court of Appeals is making it illegal to drive with any THC in your blood. The state should have to prove that the marijuana actually impaired the driver meaning the ingestion of the drug cased the driver to drive recklessly or carelessly. Instead, the justices took the easy way out and made a ridiculous ruling. Many other states that have similar medical programs have a cutoff or threshold much like the drunken driving .08 blood alcohol content limit. This cutoff is usually between 2 and 5 nanograms which would at least allow patients to drive legally after the drug wears off. Instead of punishing people who are legally taking a medicine week afterwards, the state should come up with a system to establish a logical cutoff when it’s unsafe to drive.

Now more than ever it is vitally important you work with a Top Rated Criminal Attorney in Lansing Michigan that is well versed in the new law regarding what your rights are and what you can do to protect yourself from it.  For more information, visit http://theclarklawoffice.com/criminal-defense-attorneys/