New Colorado Bill Could Set THC Impairment Levels for DUID

A bill before the Colorado Senate would establish impairment levels for DUID per se.

2012-03-22

March 22, 2012 (Press-News.org) Colorado law prohibits drivers from operating vehicles while under the influence of marijuana. Currently, however, the law does not specify a specific level of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, that needs to be present in the body before a person is guilty of driving under the influence of drugs -- known as DUID. By contrast, in the context of drunk driving, a person with a blood alcohol content or BAC of .08 or above is guilty of DUI "per se," legally speaking, once a person drives with a BAC of .08 or higher they are automatically guilty of DUI, regardless of impairment.

A new bill in the Colorado Senate seeks to change current law and set a threshold level of THC in drivers' bodies as the standard for determining intoxication. Introduced by Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, the bill would set impairment levels, in the context of driving, at 5 nanograms of THC or higher per milliliter of blood.

Colorado is not the first state to set, or attempt to set, THC impairment levels. Twelve states use a zero-tolerance approach, where any level of THC is considered impairment; Ohio and Nevada set impairment at 2 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood; and, Pennsylvania uses 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood, but only as a guideline from the Health Department that can be introduced into court during DUID cases.

Does the Bill Set Impairment Too Low?

While many people and groups, including marijuana activists, believe driving while under the influence of drugs should be illegal, some disagree as to whether THC levels are directly linked to impairment.

An article in the Summit Daily quotes Michael Elliott of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group as saying the bill's proposed limit of 5 nanograms "is not supported by science." Further, the article quotes activists as saying that people who regularly use marijuana will gradually build up THC levels in their bodies.

Using marijuana for medicinal purposes is legal in Colorado, and, if passed, the 5 nanogram level for intoxication could expose many drivers to DUID charges. If you have been arrested for suspected DUID, speak with an experienced Colorado criminal defense attorney.

Article provided by Anaya, Foley & McKedy, P.C.
Visit us at www.davidfoley.net

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Drew Nichols of the Nichols Law Firm was Just Named to the "Top 40 Under 40"

2012-03-22

"Drew Nichols of the Nichols Law Firm was just named to the "Top 40 Under 40" by The National Trial Lawyers! This is a new professional organization made up of top young attorneys from throughout the United States. Membership is by invitation only and is exclusively offered to those lawyers who have demonstrated excellent leadership and outstanding trial results. Further, all members must be in good standing with the state licensing board and must never have been subject to disciplinary action. Only 40 lawyers are officially invited per year. The multi-phase ...

No evidence that higher regional health care costs indicate inappropriate care, study shows

2012-03-22

There is no solid evidence to support the widely held belief that regions of the United States that spend more on health care and have higher rates of health care use deliver more unnecessary care to patients, or that low-cost areas deliver higher quality and more efficient care, according to a study led by Salomeh Keyhani, MD, a physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. The study authors called for national health care policies designed to discourage inappropriate care, regardless ...

International research finds quality and safety problems in hospitals throughout 13 countries

2012-03-22

In one of the largest studies of its kind, a consortium of investigators from 13 countries led the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in the U.S. and the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium in Europe, found that nurses who reported better working conditions in hospitals and less likelihood of leaving also had patients who were more satisfied with their hospital stay and rated their hospitals more highly. The study was released today in the current issue of the prestigious British Medical Journal. The massive study, which in some countries involved every ...

Unexpected discovery reveals a new mechanism for how the cerebellum extracts signal from noise

2012-03-22

Research at the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) has demonstrated the novel expression of an ion channel in Purkinje cells – specialized neurons in the cerebellum, the area of the brain responsible for movement. Ray W. Turner, PhD, Professor in the Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy and PhD student Jordan Engbers and colleagues published this finding in the January edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). This research identifies for the first time that an ion channel called KCa3.1 that was not previously ...

Research provides new hope for those suffering from Crohn's disease

2012-03-22

Researchers from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) and the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine have discovered a pathway that may contribute to the symptoms related to Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, collectively known as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). This research is a major milestone in developing future drug therapies for those living with these debilitating disorders. The digestive process is complex. To coordinate the many functions involved in digestion, the gut has its own set of nerve cells ...

Checks and balances for medical practitioners?

2012-03-22

USC Marshall study finds video capture and other automated systems cut down medical errors and minimize the tendency to operate outside normal procedures. The Conrad Murray case can obfuscate that the vast majority of grave medical errors happen in hospitals—the places we think are most safe—and are often the result of bad systems. Poor transmission of information and unmonitored interventions yield problems in operations, recovery rooms and regular wards. But how can we minimize interpretive and procedural errors that are the root cause of most medical mistakes? Research ...

Students Using Fake Id Risk More Than Underage Drinking Charges

2012-03-22

At some campuses, a fake driver's license is almost a standard accessory for college students. In a small sample of students at a branch of the State University of New York, more than three-fourths of students interviewed admitted that they carry false identification -- mainly to gain entry to bars and to buy alcohol. When surveyed, many students admitted that it was challenging to convince bouncers that they are of legal age. Identification is carefully scrutinized, because bar owners do not want to jeopardize their state alcohol license by violating laws against underage ...

Electricity from trees

2012-03-22

Plants have long been known as the lungs of the earth, but a new finding has found they may also play a role in electrifying the atmosphere. Scientists have long-suspected an association between trees and electricity but researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), in Brisbane, Australia, think they may have finally discovered the link. Dr Rohan Jayaratne and Dr Xuan Ling from QUT's International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (ILAQH), led by Professor Lidia Morawska, ran experiments in six locations around Brisbane, including the Brisbane Forest ...

Does Race Affect Presidential Pardons? One Study Thinks So

2012-03-22

Few people think about presidential pardons in racial terms. Even fewer people think about presidential pardons at all. But in a recent two-part article co-published by ProPublica and The Washington Post, an analysis of presidential pardon data seems to suggest that race may be a more important factor in presidential pardons than one might think. Most presidential pardons go unnoticed; those that do not often leave the impression that the process is rife with political maneuvering and backroom favors. Criminals pardoned with presidential pardons are essentially returned ...

Memory problems may increase after being hospitalized

2012-03-22

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new study suggests that older people may have an increased risk of problems with memory and thinking abilities after being in the hospital, according to research published in the March 21, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Our study is timely as the United States population continues to rapidly age and researchers try to identify factors that could reduce memory and thinking problems in the elderly," said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. "Understanding ...

Professor Tae-Woo Lee's research group develops groundbreaking perovskite display technology demonstrating the highest efficiency and industry-level operational lifetime

The Frontiers of Knowledge Award goes to Allan MacDonald and Pablo Jarillo-Herrero for their discovery of the “magic angle” enabling science to transform and control the behavior of new materials

New Colorado Bill Could Set THC Impairment Levels for DUID

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: