Can You Smoke Marijuana Before Driving?

July 31, 2019 | Drug Crimes, DUI, Marijuana, Substance Abuse

Can you smoke marijuana before driving?

While it will always be illegal to smoke while you drive, the answer on smoking then driving is unfortunately more complicated than yes or no.

Now that adult-use marijuana is legal in Michigan, many people are wondering how impacts the driving laws.

After all, we all know about the .08 limit for drinking alcohol and driving.

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What is the limit for marijuana?

The Michigan State Police sought to develop a “.08 standard” for marijuana use.

They developed a commission to investigate if a scientific standard could be reached regarding impairment.

The Law Offices of Barton Morris, with Barton Morris as the contributing attorney, was the only defense firm consulted on this matter.

What did Michigan State Police find?

No standard could be determined.

Therefore, there is no “per se” limit to the amount of THC someone can have in their system.

Instead, each incident must be taken on a case-by case-basis to determine impairment.

What does this mean for the recreational marijuana user?

This is a tremendous gift to the consumers of marijuana in Michigan.

Instead of cracking under the pressure like other states, Michigan admits that no scientific evidence exists to show impairment based solely on a THC level.

Thus, Michigan doesn’t have a cutoff level at this time.

This gives those who are accused of DUI involving marijuana the opportunity to prove they weren’t impaired based on their actual ability to operate a vehicle, not some arbitrary number.

How do I know if I’m over the THC limit?

Use your common sense.

Keeping the following in mind:

If you don’t know your tolerance, don’t smoke then drive. Even if you do know your tolerance, be safe.
The police will use any small infraction of the traffic laws to pull you over. If you admit to recently smoking, you’ll almost assuredly be arrested.
Even if your THC levels are incredibly low, you may still be very impaired. Therefore, a person could have high levels but exhibit no signs of impairment.
On the flip side, a novice user could have low tolerance and low THC levels, but still look very impaired.