DRUGGED DRIVING EXPLANATION QUELLS SOME PROP. 203 CONCERNS

Judging from numerous Daily Courier letters and blogs, there still is
public confusion about whether people would be able to legally drive
high on pot if voters approve Prop. 203.

The answer is no, said Lt. Andy Reinhardt, who is in charge of the
Prescott Police Department Special Operations Bureau that includes the
traffic section.

"If you're a (medical marijuana) card holder and you're under the
influence, you still can be charged," he explained.

Current Arizona law states that drivers cannot have THC in their
system, he explained. THC can stay in someone's system for 30 days, he
said.

So technically, someone could be convicted of a drug DUI for smoking
pot weeks earlier. Sometimes police charge such people with "internal
possession" instead. Police also use standardized field sobriety tests
to determine impairment.

Arizona is one of 15 states with "per se" laws, where it is illegal to
operate a motor vehicle if a driver's blood has any detectable level
of a prohibited drug or its metabolites (such as THC), according to a
fact sheet on drugged driving from the National Institute of Drug
Abuse (NIDA).

Other state laws define "drugged driving" as driving when a drug
"renders the driver incapable of driving safely" or "causes the driver
to be impaired," the NIDA fact sheet stated.

If voters approve Prop. 203 Tuesday, police wouldn't be able to charge
people carrying medical marijuana cards with drug DUIs just for having
THC in their systems, Reinhardt said. However, they still could charge
others in that fashion.

The field sobriety test and driving behavior would continue to be the
main way officers decide whether to charge someone with a drug DUI, he
said, although police still would likely conduct a blood or urine test
for THC to back up the charge.

There is no available test to narrow the time window of pot use, he
said.

Many Daily Courier bloggers criticized a letter to the editor from
Cottonwood Police Chief Jody Fanning that stated, "the negative
effects (of pot) on memory, learning and motor coordination can last
30 days or more," according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse
and other studies.

The Daily Courier found a NIDA report that states the negative effects
of pot on "attention, memory and learning can last for days or weeks,"
citing a 2008 study by Schweinsburg et al.

A fact sheet from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
states that THC "detection time is well past the window of
intoxication and impairment." It states that marijuana has been shown
to impair performance on driving simulator tasks and on driving
courses for as many as three hours.

That fact sheet also states that THC can be found in over-the-counter
hemp oil products. Use of prescription synthetic THC pills called
Marinol also can produce positive THC tests, it stated.