Marijuana DUI Bill Clears Big Colorado Hurdle

[Ohio Joe]

DENVER -- A marijuana blood standard for drivers appears headed for approval in Colorado -- thanks to a single vote change from a Republican senator.

Sen. Nancy Spence of Centennial voted Tuesday in favor of the plan to consider drivers impaired if they test positive for 5 nanograms or more of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, per milliliter of blood.

Spence's decision gave the bill the support it needed to advance on a vote of 18-17 after an emotional debate.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/30989976/detail.html

I don't think I understand all of this... I do know that it being introduced by a repug it is almost certainly complete shit.

[CrispyQ]

1. Bookmarking to follow thread.

So the 5 nanograms conditional can tell them if you consumed THC 30 mintes ago or 6 hours ago? If not, there are going to be a lot of Coloradoans who are driving DUI & not all of them are dems by any means!

[seeviewonder]

2. As a chemist, this testing is worrisome.

At a level of 5 ng/mL, the precision of any testing would be greatly reduced. This is in the parts per trillion range and this is such a small concentration that even the most advanced equipment would have trouble detecting and quantitatively measuring amounts of THC in a sample.

[DocMac]

3. Next week they will need to

break ground for new prisons. The rethugs will line up for photo ops.

[RainDog]

4. Blood levels are more accurate than urine levels

actually, urine levels cannot test for THC at all, just metabolites.

from NORML -

Unlike urine, blood test results can give a useful indicator of whether one is impaired by marijuana. Studies have shown that high THC blood levels are correlated with impaired driving. An expert panel review of scientific studies on driving under the influence of cannabis concluded that THC levels above 7 - 10 ng/ml in plasma or 3.5 - 5 ng/ml in blood indicate likely impairment [Grotenhermen]. The same review found no increased driving hazard at low levels of THC. Despite the fact that accident studies have repeatedly failed to find evidence of increased driving risk at low levels (1 or 2 ng in blood) of THC, numerous states and foreign countries have enacted "zero-tolerance" laws, treating any non-zero trace of THC as legal evidence for driving under the influence.

So, they're trying to go for the more accurate measurement, not some punishment model, it seems to me.

edit to add link: http://www.canorml.org/healthfacts/drugtestguide/drugtestdetection.html

Hey, Ohio (now CO) Joe

would you be willing to be the person here on DU who helps track news about mmj in CO?

With the pending legislation, I'm sure there will be lots of state-level articles and information that might not make it to national news feeds.

Thanks for this article.

[Ohio Joe]

5. Yeah, sure, I can do that

I check through local news sources every day anyway so I'll put up whatever I see.

[RainDog]

6. Great! thanks

I hope CO shakes up the U.S. this next election!