SUMMIT COUNTY STEPS UP DRIVING WHILE DRUGGED ENFORCEMENT

AKRON (AP) - Summit County has passed a pioneering law designed to make it
easier to convict people for driving while drugged.

The law, which took effect Aug. 26, is part of an emerging effort to raise
awareness of "drug driving" and to make drugged drivers as accountable as
those who drive while drunk.

The Summit County law establishes a limit for the amount of cocaine
permitted in a motorist's blood.

Summit County Councilman Paul Gallagher, the sponsor of the law, said the
level needed for a conviction is the lowest level of cocaine that can be
detected accurately with existing testing methods.

If that level is exceeded, a driver can be charged with DUI and receive the
same penalties as someone convicted of drunken driving.

Gallagher, an assistant prosecutor in neighboring Portage County, said
police throughout Ohio already can ask for a drug test if there is probable
cause to believe a driver is impaired. But outside of Summit County, there
are no blood-level limits as there are for alcohol.

Without such limits, Gallagher and others said it is more difficult to
convict a driver of driving while drugged because it often involves getting
an expert to testify about what a person's blood level means. Gallagher
said he wants to eventually expand his law to include marijuana.

Jerry Landau, special assistant attorney in Phoenix and an advocate of drug
driving laws, said drugged drivers can be charged with DUI if they have
minimal amounts of illegal drugs in their system in Arizona, Georgia,
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Utah and Nevada, all of
whose laws are similar to Summit County's.

Landau said that whether a person used the drug days or even weeks before
an arrest for DUI is irrelevant.

"It is illegal to use that drug; therefore, if it is illegal to use that
drug, you can rationally say that you shouldn't drive with that drug in
your system," he said.

Don Malarcik, an Akron criminal defense lawyer, said drugged-driving laws
invite courtroom challenges.

"There is no way to determine when someone ingested marijuana, based on a
blood or urine test," Malarcik said. "If some cop says 'Pee in a cup,' what
amount of marijuana in your system determines you are impaired? How much
cocaine impairs your driving ability? I don't think there is any reliable
scientific evidence that answers that question." John Hartman, director of
the Ohio Cannabis Society, which promotes legalizing marijuana, said he
doesn't encourage people to smoke marijuana and drive, but questions
Gallagher's intent to expand his law to include marijuana.

"He wants you to lose your license today for the joint you smoked last
Friday," Hartman said. "One thing about Americans is that we're supposed to
be fair."