THC/DUI Bill HB-1261 - Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Monday: 4/18

A bill that would set a blood content limit for THC has already passed the Colorado House of Representatives. HB 1261 goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, April 18th at 1:30pm in the Old Supreme Court Chambers of the State Capitol on the 2nd Floor.

This is one of the final opportunities for the public to offer comment on the bill. Denver Relief will be there to express our ardent disapproval.

The bill sets a "per se" limit which means that if someone were to test over the limit, they would have no defense regarding impairment. They would be charged with a DUI equivalent to that of drunk driving without any mitigation for being a medical patient with a higher tolerance to cannabis.

Please contact your Senators and let them know that you do not support this bill.

Some good talking points:

1)Alcohol has been shown in studies to have much greater effects in terms of impairment than THC. There is no reason to make them equivalent in the law. There are already laws for unsafe driving caused by impairement impairmentthat are sufficient to deal with any instances in which cannabis use caused a driver to be impaired.

2)The 5ng/ml Limit (limit capitalized?) is too low and does not allow for patients who have a higher tolerance and are thus able to function with higher levels of THC in their blood.

3)The bill does not address any real public safety issue. There is not a rash of high drivers causing accidents or injuries. The bill attacks a straw-man created by over-saturation of marijuana in the news.

4)We do not need to send more people to an already crowded and bankrupt penal system.

5)The bill requires that a driver accused of impairment give blood to test for THC content. This would be a case of unlawful search and seizure as it is at the discretion of an officer, not the court, that the blood be drawn. In drunk driving cases the accused has a blood draw option but is not compelled to give blood. Normally a judge must sign a search warrant to force a citizen's blood to be drawn. In fact, the average person needs a doctor's recommendation to get that type of blood work performed.

See this Westword Article about William Breathes Trying to get his blood content tested.

Again, please contact your senator and let them know you do not support his bill and that they should vote it down!

Find Your Senator Here