Marijuana Lawyer Blog

The Los Angeles Times recently reported a new study found that smoking pot and driving makes a person twice as likely to get into a vehicle accident.

And while some accidents or even arrests for DUI in Los Angeles are tied to smoking marijuana, law enforcement often has a hard time properly determining whether a person is under the influence of drugs while driving. A medical marijuana DUI should be scrutinized for many reasons.

For one, as Los Angeles medical marijuana lawyers have successfully pointed out in the past, marijuana can stay in a person's system for weeks or months, depending on many factors, including the amount that was smoked, the person's age, body type and other things.

There are other reasons as well that these charges should be viewed with skepticism. Law enforcement officers are woefully under-trained to determine if a person has been driving under the influence of drugs. While officers are abundantly trained to figure out if a driver has been drinking alcohol, drugs don't always have the same effect on people. One person may react differently to drugs than another.

The major problem in California is that medical marijuana is legal for users who have prescriptions and are legally allowed to use it. So, where does taking your medicine and driving your vehicle cross the line into illegal activity? These are questions that must be raised.

Someone charged with driving under the influence of medical marijuana should fight the charge vigorously. DUI laws are strict in California and can lead to major penalties, including jail time, fines and fees, a driver's license suspension and other obligations.

According to the news article, a recent Canadian study found that previous research on the topic have returned mixed results. Some scientists found that marijuana use was responsible for more crashes, while others found it actually created a lower risk for vehicle accidents.

The study looked at nearly 50,000 drivers who had been treated for injuries following a vehicle accident or who had been involved in a crash that was fatal. The crashes involved at least one moving vehicle on public roads. According to blood testing or self-reporting, evidence of marijuana was found in some of the cases.

The researchers grouped results from nine studies, finding that the risk of driving under the influence of accident while using marijuana was almost twice as much as those who had no substances in their system. The risk was increased when drivers used marijuana hours before the crash. Other studies found the risk of having a collision while under the influence of marijuana was actually lower than that of a sober driver.

Mostly, studies like this just serve to confuse people and put out misinformation about the truth. The bottom line is that there has been no conclusion about how risky it is to drive after smoking marijuana. The bigger issue is that people who are prescribed medical marijuana shouldn't be punished simply for trying to cure their pain. Just because marijuana may be more controversial than narcotic pain pills, patients shouldn't be treated differently.

Continue reading "Study: Smoking Medical Marijuana in Los Angeles Leads to Crashes" »

Our Orange County medical marijuana lawyers reported on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog recently that in states where medical marijuana is used, there are fewer traffic fatalities.

Medical marijuana advocates say that this is true because fewer people are drinking alcohol and then driving to cope with their illness. If they legally can use marijuana, they are doing it at home and not in public where they could be arrested and therefore have no reason to drive. Those who oppose medical marijuana in Orange County, however, would argue that this means that younger people, who typically drink beer, are able to get marijuana more easily in states that allow it for medicinal purposes.

This also leads to questions about medical marijuana DUI charges in Orange County. Because there is always going to be scrutiny about medical marijuana in California, there is always going to be the possibility that drivers who are under the influence of medical marijuana will be charged with a DUI.

Officials state that the number of people being charged with prescription drug DUI is on the rise because of an increase in prescription drug abuse. But what these people don't report is that police are woefully unprepared and under-trained in their ability to properly recognize whether a person is driving under the influence of marijuana.

Some believe that less than 1/10 of 1 percent of all law enforcement officers worldwide are trained as drug recognition experts. That's fewer than 5,000 officers in the entire world who have the training to detect when a person is under the influence of drugs.

Every law enforcement officer gets months of training to figure out when a person has been driving under the influence of alcohol, but many don't get any type of training on how to determine if a person has been driving after taking drugs.

Also, there are so many kinds of drugs and all have different effects on a person. The individual themselves, including their body type and physical and mental makeup, can also alter how the drug affects them. So, it can be very tough to tell when a person is under the influence of a drug.

When that drug is medical marijuana, the picture becomes even hazier. If a person is in pain and has a prescription to legally use that drug to cope with the pain, what's to stop them from driving? If there is no warning label that tells them they shouldn't drive within a certain time frame of taking the drug, they shouldn't face the possibility of being arrested.

If a person pops a painkiller to cope with an illness and then drives to work, they usually aren't bothered. But for some reason, people who use medical marijuana sometimes get harassed by police.

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the DUI arrest rate has continued dropping for years. According to data from 1997 to 2007, the rate dropped from 933 to 863 per 100,000 residents.

The department reports that drug-involved fatalities have increased substantially as well as drug-involved accidents. But the department's stat sheet doesn't provide information about medical marijuana cases specifically.

That could be because there are few cases where officers can actually prove a person is under the influence of drugs while driving. A breathalyzer machine isn't going to be helpful because those are designed to indicate a blood-alcohol level. Field sobriety tests can often be thwarted by a person's medical condition or weather and road factors.

The bottom line is that if someone is charged with a medical marijuana DUI, they should immediately call an experienced Orange County medical marijuana lawyer in order to get the legal representation they need. Many DUI lawyers may not know the medical marijuana laws well enough to properly represent a person in this situation.

Continue reading "Medical Marijuana DUI in Orange County May Be Overblown, Call a Lawyer Immediately" »

The district attorney in San Luis Obispo recently dropped charges against a dozen people charged with providing medical marijuana, the New Times is reporting.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana lawyers fight for the rights of anyone involved in the medical marijuana industry in California. Often, medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles get shut down because of bad politics or uninformed people.

Sometimes, though, users -- the reason these laws were put into place at the beginning -- face harassment or violated rights by police and others. For some police officers, a person having a medical marijuana card still isn't good enough. Despite clearly written laws that allow some people to possess, grow and use marijuana for medicinal purposes, law enforcement sometimes still try to make arrests.

While the laws are constantly changing based on court rulings and common sense decisions, there are some basic truths in California's medical marijuana laws. And though some law enforcement officers disagree with them and believe the drug is illegal for everyone, those laws must be upheld just like every other law.

In San Luis Obispo, more than a year after charges were initially filed, 12 local medical marijuana providers were arrested and charged with violating drug laws, the charges have been dismissed.

At the time, the newspaper reports, the head of the now-defunct SLO County Narcotics Task Force said there was "concrete proof" there would be 12 full convictions for the charges. Recently, after more than a year of court hearings and motions, a prosecutor admitted that there is insufficient evidence against six of the nine remaining defendants.

Charges against six were dropped, while another co-defendant had a similar hearing. Charges ranged from possession of marijuana to child endangerment. But the state said it intends to appeal the cases to a different court to see if another judge will agree with their interpretation of medical marijuana laws.

The newspaper reports it could take years for the appeals court to make a decision on the matter and in that time frame, the defendants remain in limbo. For many, cash, medical marijuana, access to bank accounts, computers and other possessions are being held by police. While charges were dismissed, the prosecutors could re-file if they get a favorable ruling by the appeals court.

Their attorneys vow to file motions to return their property, but it could be difficult for them to get that ruling since the cases are still considered legally open. The defendants feel as though the prosecution is playing a game with them -- trying to disrupt their lives rather than do justice.

The major delay in the case was based on argument over proposed jury instructions. Prosecutors trying to convince a judge not to include language of "medical marijuana" and "collectives" in the instructions a jury would hear. But the defense prevailed, which led to the state dropping the charges.

Continue reading "San Luis Obispo Medical Marijuana Cases Dropped By D.A." »

A recent report by economists determined that states with medical marijuana laws in place have seen a drop in deadly vehicle crashes, The Hartford Courant is reporting.

It is certainly good news for the Los Angeles medical marijuana industry, and researchers are looking at the benefits of medical marijuana aside from the medical advantages.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana lawyers recognize the benefits of medical marijuana not only for local tax revenue and small business growth, but also the intended purpose of helping people with major medical ailments get the pain relief they deserve.

The research also revealed that people who might regularly drink and drive are smoking marijuana instead, though the study doesn't show whether would-be drunken drivers are driving while high with less-deadly results or they're simply not driving as much.

Research was done by professors in Colorado, Montana and Oregon. They looked at traffic deaths in all states, including the 16 that have legalized marijuana. The data, from 1990 to 2009, shows that in states where marijuana has been legalized, there has been a 9 percent decrease in traffic fatalities.

The numbers show that DUI incidents have been dropping in this country for decades, but the state-by-state data seems to suggest that states with legal marijuana use are seeing bigger drops. Connecticut is one state that is considering the use of marijuana for medical purposes in its current legislative session.

It would make sense that people who are suffering from major medical ailments would use alcohol as a way to cope with their problems. Often, that leads to drinking and driving. But marijuana use is more likely done at home and not in public, for fear of being arrested. So, if the person is already home, they are less likely to get behind the wheel while they are high on the drug.

The study asserts that states with medical marijuana laws in place allowed some people to have marijuana for recreational purposes either through illegal means because of law-breaking distributors or for those posing as would-be patients.

Either way, researchers believe recreational drug users are drinking less alcohol. Based on national surveys about drinking habits, states where marijuana is legalized showed a 9- to 12-percent drop in mean number of drinks consumed by month for men and women.

Beer sales, on average, dropped by about 5 percent in states where medical marijuana is legalized as well. Researchers found there was no change in sales of spirits or wine, which correlates with young people using more marijuana as a substitute for beer, the most popular alcoholic drink for young people.

Opponents will look at this study and use it to prove that in states where medical marijuana laws exist young people are getting more access to illegal marijuana. But supporters will use it to show that traffic fatalities being reduced is a major benefit of implementing medical marijuana laws.

To argue that young people are getting access to marijuana for illegal use only in states where it is legal for medical purposes would be ignorant. But to argue that use of alcohol by young people is more dangerous than marijuana would be a sound point. Far more people die in DUI-alcohol accidents each year than in DUI-marijuana accidents.

Continue reading "Report: Medical Marijuana in California Reduces Traffic Fatalities" »

The recent arrest of Rodney King on DUI charges in Riverside County highlights the issue of DUI charges involving medical marijuana in Los Angeles.

Our Riverside medical marijuana defense lawyers are seeing an increasing number of medical marijuana patients accused of driving under the influence. In this case, King faces up to a year in prison on the DUI charge. He said he was using medical marijuana to deal with back pain.

As we reported in August on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, authorities are handing out an increasing number of DUI drug charges in Los Angeles. Authorities believe as many as 1 in 10 nighttime drivers in the L.A. area are under the influence of marijuana. And the L.A. times reports more than 1,000 serious and fatal accidents a year in L.A. involve a driver high on marijuana.

Police believe such accidents have increased by 50 percent in the last decade.

"Marijuana is a significant and important contributing factor in a growing number of fatal accidents," said Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy in the White House and former Seattle police chief. "There is no question, not only from the data but from what I have heard in my career as a law enforcement officer."

Folks, it's ridiculous. It hasn't been that long ago since the L.A. sheriff held a press conference and spent the day waiving lollypops while warning parents of marijuana-laced candy in their child's trick-or-treat bag.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports "specially trained" officers are returning to their communities with the ability to tell whether a driver is operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs.

If you are stopped and accused of driving under the influence of drugs, simply remain polite, remain quiet, and contact an attorney. In many cases, such charges are nearly impossible to prove. Authorities rely upon intimidation and a defendant's own statements to try to secure a conviction. You may not be obligated to take a blood test. And even if results show the presence of marijuana it does not mean you were under the influence at the time of arrest. Marijuana can remain in your system for up to 30 days -- long past the time when it impacts your ability to drive.

As for these "specially trained" officers, we think psychics could do as good a job. We don't even believe field sobriety tests are a credible tool. In each of these cases the results of such "testing" are nothing more than the opinion of an officer about your guilt. Considering the fact that an officer's job is to collect evidence of your guilt, these tests are anything but objective and a motorist has little or no chance of passing.

You have the right to remain silent. Exercise it. And contact an L.A. medical marijuana defense lawyer to protect your rights.

Continue reading "DUI/Drug charges in Los Angeles best handled by experienced Medical Marijuana Defense Lawyer" »