A legislative proposal filed by Ohio Senator Nathan Manning would remove the per se marijuana limit on those operating motor vehicles and would replace it with an evidentiary standard.
Under Ohio’s current per se driving laws, a person is automatically found guilty of operating a vehicle impaired if they have even a trace amount of THC in their blood or THC metabolites in their urine when driving. This is despite the fact that THC can stay in the system for days or even weeks after last use.
According to its official summary, Senate Bill 26 “removes the per se prohibited concentration limits for marijuana and marijuana metabolites as measured via a chemical test of a person’s urine, whole blood, or blood serum or plasma for purposes of determining an automatic violation”. This would apply to both vehicles and watercrafts.
The law would replace this with “an evidentiary standard that may be used to infer that the operator of a vehicle or watercraft is under the influence of marijuana.”
The proposal specifies that, under the evidentiary standard, a trier of fact may infer that a person is
under the influence of marijuana if the person either:
Has a concentration of at least 25 nanograms of delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol per milliliter of the person’s urine; or
Has a concentration of at least five nanograms of delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol per milliliter of the person’s whole blood or blood serum or plasma.
SB 26 would also remove the automatic administrative license suspension imposed when a vehicle
operator consents to a chemical test and the test’s results are above the per se limits for
marijuana or marijuana metabolite, and it specifies that “any evidence or testimony regarding the concentration of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them is subject to the Rules of Evidence, including the rules pertaining to expert testimony.”
It also “Specifies that the admissibility of any evidence or testimony pertaining to the
concentration of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them within a person
does not affect, impair, or limit the admissibility of evidence or testimony regarding
either of the following:
The analysis of the person’s whole blood, blood serum or plasma, urine, breath, or other bodily substance; and
The method, process, reliability, or equipment used in the process of analyzing the person’s whole blood, blood serum or plasma, urine, breath, or other bodily substance.
You can click here for the full text of SB 26, which had its second hearing yesterday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
