Are Marijuana Per Se Laws Coming?

Is Marijuana per se coming to New York?

We are at a cross roads with marijuana in this country. Cannabis use is trending nationally both medically and recreationally. Laws are changing for it's use but we have multiple standards that define when and if someone can drive. We have active delta 9 THC laws, inactive metabolite THC laws, and then we have "per se" laws.

We only have one drug nationally that is defined with a number and that is alcohol at .08 BAC. The only reason all 50 states adopted that number was by the coercion of the government. If they wanted funds for their highways then they needed to implement .08 BAC.

Are we going to see a marijuana per se law nationally?
Can cannabis be quantified by a per se law?
Is it fair to lump marijuana impaired driving with drunk driving?

Ithaca DWI Lawyer: Zero Order Kinetics and THC

Zero Order versus First Order
KINETICS

The first drug that was recognized to cause issues with driving was alcohol. Being the most common, socially accepted, legal, readily available, and used substance on the planet alcohol has been studied intensively. Alcohol was easily measured and understood.

New York State as well as the rest of the country found setting specific BAC (blood alcohol concentration) thresholds rather simple. NYS even  separated out intoxication (.08 or more), from impairment (.06 to .07). Now with marijuana use and abuse on the rise everyone wants to apply alcohol terms, alcohol tests, and alcohol pharmacological kinetics to THC.

What does "zero order kinetics" have to do with Alcohol and THC? How can we better defend New York DWAI drugs THC cases from alcohol prosecution?

Ithaca DWI Lawyer: Do Opioids and Driving Equal DWAI?

Drugged Driving Can Lead to a DWAI

The reality of narcotic use and driving is far from the media in truth. There are millions of Americans who utilize prescription narcotics like hydrocodone and oxycodone for chronic pain. They are not addicts or using these medications recreationally. At a recent DUI conference in Tucson, AZ Dr. Fran Gengo, a pharmacologist related a story of two people using pain meds. One is Johnny, and the other is Johnny's grandma.

Now while Johnny uses grandma's pain pains to get high grandma has two medical conditions, spinal stenosis and degenerative joint disease. She takes her pills throughout the day on a schedule to moderate her discomfort. If Johnny and Johnny's grandma both drive who stands the greater chance of being DWAI drugs? If Johnny's grandma has a higher blood concentration of hydrocodone does that mean she is more impaired than Johnny?