California law dictates that it is illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana or cannabis related products. Now that people can widely access marijuana products from dispensaries, people think that legalizing marijuana allows people to legally drive under the influence of marijuana.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. It is illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana in the state of California. However, having marijuana in a person’s blood stream is not the same as being under the influence of marijuana.
How Does Tolerance Impact a Marijuana DUI?
An interesting thing about marijuana and other drug DUI laws is that there is no legal limit for marijuana DUIs. While driving under the influence of alcohol has a .08 or above limit, marijuana DUI laws does not have this limit.
In fact, some people need to ingest a lot of marijuana to feel its effect. These people have high tolerance to marijuana. The prosecutor must prove that the person not only has marijuana in his or her system, but also that the person is impaired by the marijuana.
How Does the Court Prove Impairment?
Proving impairment requires showing marijuana ingestion and that the ingestion impairs motor skills. Please understand that “motor skills” applies to a person’s ability to understand what is happening in his or her surroundings and appropriately respond to what is happening. Prosecutors typically prove ingestions through blood or urine analysis. Additionally, they show video evidence of the driver after being stopped by the officer and testimonial evidence of the officer’s observations of the driver performing standard field sobriety tests.
In conclusion, driving with marijuana in your blood does not necessarily mean that a person is driving under the influence of marijuana.
