Their report goes on to say
Under Colorado law, drivers with five nanograms or more of active THC in their blood system can be prosecuted for driving under the influence (DUI).
However, many pot DUI charges end up getting dropped when defendants go to trial because prosecutors simply can’t prove the driver was actually impaired by marijuana use, according to a High Times report.
The problem prosecutors often run up against in these cases is that marijuana levels detected in a person’s blood system don’t equate to any certain level of impairment. Unlike alcohol, where impairment is easily detected through breathalyzers or blood tests, marijuana impairment is far more difficult to prove with existing technology.
Per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
It is difficult to establish a relationship between a person’s THC blood or plasma concentration and performance impairing effects. Concentrations of parent drug and metabolite are very dependent on pattern of use as well as dose.
It is inadvisable to try and predict effects based on blood THC concentrations alone, and currently impossible to predict specific effects based on THC-COOH concentrations.
Police are still arresting people for suspected pot DUIs, but juries almost always have no choice but to acquit in these cases.
CBS Denver recently reported on one such case where a Lakewood man accused of driving under the influence of marijuana was acquitted of all charges, even though blood tests showed he was well over the legal limit of THC.
“It’s not like alcohol,” the man’s attorney, Rob Corry, told CBS Denver. “Marijuana is different. The standards are not one-size-fits-all.”
Report URL
http://extract.suntimes.com/news/10/153/17112/marijuana-dui-often-dropped-trial-colorado
