Marijuana DUI

HGN test
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Charles is a frequent speaker and a prolific writer on all matters related to OVI / DUI defense.

This summer (2024), marijuana became legal in Ohio. However, the use of marijuana still subjects drivers to a DUI if officer’s can prove use. Note: I said use not impairment. Ohio allows prosecutors to use not only active THC, but a metabolite of THC which can stay in the body well beyond the time it is active on the psycho-nervous systems of the body. Some experts say the metabolite tested for can be in your body for over thirty (30) days. That’s right, you are not be high, but Ohio will still be say you are high under Ohio’s marijuana DUI statute.

Further, Ohio has been training officers in the A.R.I.D.E. class which provides them tools for making more marijuana DUI arrests. Officers use two “new” roadside tests called the Modified Rhomberg Test and the Lack of Convergence Test. In preparation for an onslaught of marijuana DUI arrests, I attended and was certified in the A.R.I.D.E. protocol. I have all of the tools to help you defend your marijuana DUI case.

What has been lacking, until now, is a roadside chemical test to aid officers in making a marijuana DUI probable cause determination. That is changing. Here are parts of the article from FOX 19. Law enforcement agencies are now working on programs to detect THC more quickly in drivers. The test involves swabbing of the mouth on-site instead of sending a suspect to a hospital for a urine or blood test. “Officers typically will know within 24 hours of not only what kind of drug is in your system, but the actual parent drug,” explained Cincinnati Police FOP president Ken Kober.

Kober says saliva testing is better for the officer and better for the suspect. “It’s a lot less intrusive,” according to Kober. “You know trying to, taking somebody to the hospital to give blood or taking them back to a station and asking them for urine. It’s pretty intrusive. Something like this is just a simple swab and they rub it in your mouth, and they’ve got the results back within 24 hours.” Kober says the saliva tests are currently being used in 24 states and are making their way through the state legislature in Columbus.

State Representative Cecil Thomas voted in favor of the bill to legalize the use of saliva kits, but still has some reservations. “The saliva kit itself cannot just be the determining factor as to whether you’re impaired,” Thomas says. “It may show that there’s marijuana in your system. Now we all know that marijuana stays in your system a lot longer, up to like 30 days for that matter.” Rep. Thomas says the bill to allow for saliva testing is still working its way through the Senate committee.

If you have any questions about marijuana DUI, call me at (937) 318-1384.