Law enforcement agencies across the country are grappling with the challenge of identifying people who drive under the influence of marijuana.
LISTEN:
Ambrosio Rodriguez, a criminal defense attorney, and former Riverside County prosecutor, spoke to KNX News about this issue. He says the absence of a reliable and efficient method for detecting marijuana intoxication in the field is largely to blame.
He says. "It's just a lot more complicated, and we're still trying to get our arms around this issue as a criminal justice system." "Marijuana affects the body in a different way [compared to alcohol], and detecting it requires a blood test,"
Unlike alcohol, no breathalyzer-like test exists for marijuana intoxication, and blood testing, while a helpful tool, is both time-consuming and invasive. Because of the time it takes, along with the way marijuana metabolizes in the body, it is difficult to obtain a sample that could be useful in court.
This leaves law enforcement dependent on field sobriety tests, which are not always reliable because they were designed to detect alcohol-induced impairment, not marijuana.
There are new field tests under development that may enhance law enforcement's ability to detect marijuana intoxication. However, these tests are not yet widely accepted. According to Rodriguez, this is due to a lack of consensus on their reliability.
He stressed that establishing such a consensus takes time, adding, "it's too early for us to have consensus right now."
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Related
Related
