Why does it have to be blood? Why not saliva? A quick google search, and came up with this: How Long Does Marijuana Stay in Saliva? Marijuana does not stay in saliva for very long. Most of the rules that apply to marijuana's detection time in urine and hair do not apply to marijuana in saliva. It can be detected by a saliva drug screen about an hour after intake. The accuracy of a saliva drug test (97%-98%) will decrease rapidly about 12 hours after the marijuana was consumed. So while a saliva drug test option may be useful if you want to find out if someone is high or if they were smoking yesterday, it is not an effective test for long term or less recent use. How often someone smokes marijuana (for example, every day for 6 months, or just once) has no bearing on the results of a saliva drug test. Sounds like the way to go.
I hope we can eventually get rid of harsh driving while stoned penalties considering stoned driving is most likely safer than driving while texting or driving tired.
Will they urine test or swab? There is a difference. With a swab test they can tell if you were high in the last 24 hours. I do not think any states take swab test yet though. Not for DOT testing though.
In a nutshell that's what I'm understanding. But there's still a lot of debate about whether the tests will cover active or latent THC, how much probable cause an officer would need to test, whether the level would change or not if there's a surge of new DUI charges because of marijuana. I believe Steve Sarich (it may have been another user) said that there were so few records of motor vehicle accidents that there is hardly any record of them. To me, this should be everyone's argument if the initiative does pass.
There are people being charged under current law for marijuana DUI after being arrested and having their blood tested, so there is nothing new in that regard. What's new is that I-502 sets a per se limit at 5ng of active THC. I-502 will for the first time make a distinction in our laws between active and latent THC, which will provide guidance to the courts. Right now people are being convicted with nothing more than latent THC in their blood. The current policy is effectively zero tolerance. An officer will still need probable cause that you were impaired to arrest you, and since he's taking you to a hospital to get your blood drawn he's going to want to be pretty sure since he has to stay with you the whole time. You also must have violated a traffic law. If you were to be arrested without probable cause or without having violated a law and test over 5ng, the case would be thrown out. The smell of marijuana would not constitute probable cause because if I-502 passes, marijuana will not be illegal. "Probable cause" means the officer has to have a good reason to think something illegal is taking place. Under current caselaw, the smell of marijuana does not provide probable cause that someone was just smoking it, see State v. Grande. Could the police start a crackdown after I-502 passes? Sure they could. But they could start a crackdown right now if they wanted to. People w/ 5ng+ are not convincing juries that they weren't impaired right now. The only people that I-502 would hurt are people who are testing positive for over 5ng and then convincing juries they weren't impaired. That is not happening.
I'm voting yes on I502. To me, it seems like the most resistance to this bill is from the medical community(doctors/growers) who stand to lose money if legalization/regulation passes.
^The same greedy fuckers that voted no in California 2 years ago. "I got mine so fuck everyone else!"
Does this adversely affect the MMJ community? If so, how? and why would such policy be put in the law?
well i look at it this way... All of congress are going to get DUI's now. We will see if they let that stand... because isn't that how democracy works? Only the powerful make rules, and the people must abide.
pro I-502 commercial [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aScUZgzFlTI&feature=player_embedded]August 2012 Television Ad - YouTube[/ame]
So you people complain about not being able to smoke legally. Yet every single time there is a bill in place to made it legal, you people nickpick the fuck out of it and urge everyone to vote NO just because it's not 100% perfect. Seriously start being fucking realistic. The laws will never be fucking perfect the instant it's legal. Get it to where everyone can carry some on them and smoke in the privacy in their own home without going to jail. Then fucking cry. God damn medical patients that can already smoke legally trying to keep the rest of us oppressed.
It's not the real patients Jack - it's the MMJ profiteers, the dope dealers and the punk-ass kids with cards thinking they have something special (actually they do - they're getting bent over by the "dispensaries"). The real patients are likely ill or in pain and couldn't care less if anyone else burns weed.
It's even worse than that. Many marijuana patients are under the mistaken impression that the current laws protect them. They don't. Marijuana is still illegal under the medical marijuana statute. All it gives them is an "affirmative defense", which they can only use after they've been arrested and only if a judge allows it. The status quo is bad for everyone, yet many fail to recognize it. I-502 will make all of us safer.
Please vote yes for it, work on the flaws down the track when anti-pot voters realize weed isn't effecting their life in the slightest.
Oh look, SteveSarich is attempting to lead a lawsuit against the initiative. Someone's a poor sport. http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Pot-grower-sues-to-stop-legalization-measure-163137636.html Not only this, but he wants to be reimbursed for the costs of his lawsuit. Basically, I read from all this "we got our weed, f*ck everyone else."
Exactly, we see this happen every time a pro-pot initiative comes up. "Well the new initiative will prevent millions from going to prison, stop people from losing their jobs, families, and health, and allows me to legally enjoy my god given right to the herb... but, it only allows me to possess 200 pounds at a time, and I think I should be able to possess 201 pounds so I am going to vote no" Okay, maybe an exaggeration, but my point still stands. YES ON I-502!!!
Thank you. Legalization is never going to go anywhere if people that actually support legal weed vote no on this. You would rather go to prison than have a legal scheme that maybe you have some minor disagreements with? Never get that logic.