DUI and Marijuana

According to law enforcement and other medical experts – smoking marijuana or otherwise ingesting illegal substances before driving may impair the driver’s ability to navigate safely on the roadways. They also believe that marijuana can impact a person’s motor skills, judgment and reaction times – all vital to the legal operation of a vehicle.In fact, they have even gone so far as to offer that drugged driving is perhaps as dangerous and lethal as drunk driving and that there is an obligation to put drugged driving laws into place.

There are some challenges to this however including the fact that there is no way to determine the level or type of drug in a person’s system when they are pulled over for suspected impaired driving. Moreover, there are no levels that have been determined to guide a decision about impairment.

Too, studies have shown conflicting results concerning the amount of HTC in a driver’s blood system and the extent of it’s effect on the driver’s ability to safely navigate roadways without endangering themselves and other drivers. Succinctly, while there may be evidence that a driver who has smoked marijuana shows some level of impaired driving – such as increased risk taking and lowered coordination, vigilance and and perception – in fact, there are no definitive avenues for determining the exact impact of smoking marijuana and driving.

However, one should remember that marijuana is an illegal substance and you could be arrested for having it in your vehicle and/or on your person.

David Breston is a leading Conroe DUI attorney. Contact David Breston if you need a Conroe DUI lawyer.