As an attorney, you really need to be careful in making certain arguments. The wrong facts in a case can destroy an argument for years to come. You do not want to go to a court or field with the wrong facts because it can harm its future use by attorneys who have the right facts.
You need to be careful on when you argue it, and how you argue it. There are a lot of cases where you are just waiting for the right facts to make the right arguments and hopefully, from that make good case laws.
How Do the Police React to a Recommendation for Marijuana?
Interviewer: When you see clients being pulled over and they have medical marijuana recommendation, and the police see that, what usually occurs next? Do the officers definitely try to arrest them for DUI or do they heed the medical recommendation?
Brian: They make take notes that they believe this person is under the influence of marijuana. They will take notes that someone has a medical marijuana card. I have only seen one client that has a active valid medical marijuana card that was arrested for DUI and that was because there was also alcohol involved and because they were going on a theory of impairment.
That client was not charged with having any drug or metabolite in her system even though she did have marijuana in our system. The problem is that it’s similar to alcohol. Alcohol is legal. You are supposedly allowed to consume it and then drive a vehicle.
It Is Difficult to Distinguish When a Legally Approved Substance Causes Impairment
It’s only that at some point, alcohol impairs your ability to drive even to the slightest degree. Even though it’s legal, even though you can use it, there’s a fine line between using it and driving, and not being impaired and using it and driving and being impaired.
When Judging Alcohol Impairment, There Are Established Levels for When You Are Not Impaired and When You Are Impaired
At least with alcohol, we have legal presumptions. If you are between a 0.00 and 0.39, you are presumed to not be impaired. If you are at a level of 0.4 and a 0.079, there’s no presumption as to whether you’re impaired or not.
If you are at a 0.08 or above, you are legally, statutorily presumed to be impaired.
