Arizona Court Rules Medical Marijuana Cardholders Not Immune from DUI

 Posted on October 04, 2014 in DUI

Arizona's medical marijuana laws which allow persons to access marijuana for medicinal purposes, does not give these cardholders immunity from prosecution for DUI charges. An Arizona court recently delivered a ruling in a case involving a man who was arrested for DUI after driving a car the car under the influence of pot. The man was a medicinal marijuana cardholder, and although he was found not guilty of driving while impaired, the court did find that he was guilty of driving with pot in his system.

According to the ruling, persons who are using marijuana and have traces of the drug in their system, can be charged with and convicted of DUI. It's an interesting ruling, and one that is bound to be watched in states like California that also have medical marijuana laws in place.

The ruling is also interesting to Los Angeles DUI lawyers because it comes at a time when a number of states are moving to ease restrictions on access to marijuana. Colorado and Washington recently became the first states to allow the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes. As restrictions on marijuana continue to ease, courts continue to deliver conflicting messages, ruling that while access to marijuana is easier, people who have traces of the drug in their system can actually be prosecuted for DUI.

California is well on its way to legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes. Although the state has not finalized such access, all signs are that in the next few years, we will see a further relaxing of the rules. Like other states that have eased restrictions on marijuana, California has also struggled with questions of how to prosecute persons who use marijuana before operating a vehicle. Earlier this year, a bill that would have mandated DUI prosecution of persons, who had even just a little bit of THC in their system, was killed in the California legislature.