If a bill passes in Pennsylvania, medical cannabis patients will no longer be at risk of being charged a DUI just because drug tests show the presence of THC in their system, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. However, this does not mean that you can drive while on a disability if you have a card, and it does not apply to anyone who uses cannabis without a medical card.
Instead, the legislation introduced attempts to address a longstanding problem since the legalization of cannabis. As many readers know, THC can appear in the urine 30 days after ingestion and Up to 90 days for heavier users. Therefore, getting people arrested for DUIs because their drug test shows the presence of THC would be like issuing a DUI to a driver who hasn’t had a drink in one month. Drug testing bias against cannabis, one of the safest drugs, does not only appear in relation to alcohol. Cocaine leaves urine After about three days, as does heroin. Meth can hang around for six days. When a person fails a drug test for any reason, it is usually just because they have smoked some weed.
We know that hemp is generally safe to consume, and A recent Canadian study Until I found that legalizing weed doesn’t lead to more car accidents. However, it is understandable that people are concerned about poor drivers. But, under current Pennsylvania law, police can charge drivers with a DUI when marijuana use is detected, regardless of level of impairment or time of consumption.
“In 2016, the PA General Assembly voted to legalize the medical use of cannabis. Unfortunately, the legislature has failed to grant these patients the same privileges afforded to others with legal prescriptions for a scheduled drug,” read a memo from a member of the care and a bilateral memo from Rep. Chris Raab, D-Philadelphia, and Rep. Aaron Kaufer, D-Luzern. They continue: “Medical cannabis patients regularly call our offices concerned that state law makes it illegal for them to drive.”
Currently (and fortunately), Pennsylvania is a remote state and only one of a handful of states that have zero tolerance for controlled substances. Thirty-three states (even somewhere cannabis is still mostly banned) require proof of actual harm at the time of its withdrawal. In the last session, Pennsylvania representatives introduced similar legislation but got stuck in the government’s quicksand and didn’t make it out of the transportation committee. Additional attempts to solve this problem appeared in the Senate. The Senate Transportation Committee approved Senate Bill 167 last June. However (more quicksand for the government) the bill did not get a vote in the full Senate before the close of the 2021-22 legislative session.
“During a meeting of the Senate Transportation Committee last September, representatives of the Pennsylvania State Police testified that the bill would not adversely affect their mission to keep the highways and byways of the Commonwealth free of disabled drivers,” Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R. Washington, the lead sponsor for SB 167, in the Committee’s voting time statement, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Given that more than 425,000 Pennsylvanians have active patient certificates that allow them to use medical marijuana in Pennsylvania, let’s hope this issue is resolved sooner rather than later.
Sensible Pennsylvania officials are currently trying to make cannabis laws more reasonable in other ways. Sens. Mike Reagan, R-Cumberland, Sen. James Brewster, and D-McKeesport announced plans earlier this year for legislation that would allow doctors to certify patients for the use of medical cannabis for any condition in place of the state’s current limited medical list. On the map of states that have legalized adult use, Pennsylvania sticks out like a sore thumb that hasn’t.
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