DRIVERS TAKE HIT OVER POT SMOKING

Mich. Supreme Court Rules Blood Test Showing Marijuana Smoked Weeks
Ago Can Be Used in Court.

Pot smokers beware! That joint you smoked four weeks ago could come
back to haunt you under a ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court.

In a 4-3 vote, the court ruled that motorists can be prosecuted for
driving under the influence of drugs if they test positive for any
trace of marijuana, including a metabolized remnant that experts say
can stay in a person's system for weeks after the smoke.

"They are automatically guilty even though they are no longer
impaired by it," said Tim Beck, executive director of the Michigan
chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws, which wants the drug legalized, taxed and regulated for adult
use as alcohol is. "It's not based on common sense or justice."

Officers still need probable cause to believe a crime was being
committed before they can request a blood test, but motorists who
refuse could be found guilty of a civil infraction and lose their
license. Officers can compel a blood sample if a judge approves a
search warrant for it.

The ruling stemmed from two cases. In the first case, a woman
admitting smoking marijuana four hours before she crossed into
oncoming traffic on a snowy road, striking another vehicle. That
car's front-seat passenger was killed and three children were
injured. In the second case, a man stopped for erratic driving
admitted smoking marijuana 30 minutes before.

In both cases, blood tests found 11 carboxy-THC, a byproduct created
when the human body metabolizes marijuana. The ruling turned on the
court's interpretation of the law that prohibits driving under the
influence of drugs.

The four justices in the majority -- Maura Corrigan, Stephen Markman,
Clifford Taylor and Robert Young -- concluded that 11 carboxy-THC is
a drug under the law even though experts testified that it has "no
pharmacological effect on the body and its level in the blood
correlates poorly, if at all, to an individual's level of THC-related
impairment."

The experts also testified that the chemical can only come from
ingesting THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. The majority
based its conclusion on the Legislature's definition of marijuana,
which includes cannabis and "derivatives" of it.

Justice Michael Cavanagh called the ruling unconstitutionally vague.
He cited expert testimony that noted the substance can be detected in
a person's system for up to four weeks after being ingested -- long
after its effects have worn off.

"Plainly, there is no rational reason to charge a person who
passively inhaled marijuana smoke at a rock concert a month ago,"
Cavanagh wrote in a dissent joined by Justices Elizabeth Weaver and
Marilyn Kelly. "Now, if a person has ever actively or passively
ingested marijuana and drives, he drives not knowing if he is
breaking the law, because if any amount of 11 carboxy-THC can be
detected -- no matter when it was previously ingested -- he is
committing a crime.

State drug prevention experts said the ruling could cause people to
think more seriously about the effects of drug use.

"I think the ruling could be one more arrow in our quiver in the
message we send to young people," said Donald Allen, director of the
state's office of drug control policy. "Most kids don't think about
how long this is in their system."