Driving Under the Influence of Cannabis
Florida’s cannabis laws are confusing, to say the least. Cannabis is a Schedule I controlled substance at the federal level, which means that federal law does not recognize any legally valid medical applications for cannabis; it is in the same category as heroin and MDMA. The same is true at the state level, and yet Florida has a robust medical cannabis program, where registered participants can legally possess small quantities of cannabis for personal use. Physician approval is required for registration as a medical cannabis user, but since cannabis is a Schedule I controlled substance, doctors cannot legally prescribe cannabis; they can only recommend it. Meanwhile, several counties in Florida, including Broward County, have decriminalized possession of small quantities of cannabis for all adults ages 21 and over, regardless of whether they have a medical cannabis card. The laws get even more confusing when you account for driving under the influence of cannabis. If you have been injured in a car accident where the driver was under the influence of marijuana, contact a Fort Lauderdale auto accident attorney.
How Stoned Is Too Stoned to Drive?
Whether someone is too drunk to drive is a clear-cut matter, according to Florida law. If your blood alcohol content (BAC) is at least 0.08 percent, you can get criminal charges for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). If someone causes an accident while drunk, the criminal penalties increase, and the drunk driver automatically gets assigned most or all of the fault in any insurance claims or civil lawsuits.
Driving under the influence of cannabis is illegal, even when you bought or grew the cannabis under legally accepted circumstances. Consider that it is legal to drink alcohol and to take narcotics that have been legally prescribed to you, but it is illegal to drive until after their effects have ceased. Measuring whether someone is too cannabis-impaired to drive is complicated, though. The body metabolizes alcohol quickly, so breathalyzer tests for alcohol intoxication only show recent alcohol consumption. If you were sloppy drunk five days ago but haven’t touched alcohol since, your BAC will be zero, or close to it. By contrast, cannabis metabolites remain in the body for weeks; the available tests only show whether you used cannabis sometime in the recent past, not whether you are still too impaired to drive.
Consider the 2019 accident, when an Uber driver, who was not carrying a passenger, was driving under the influence of cannabis. As she took an exit off Palmetto Road, a drunk driver was going the wrong way on the exit ramp and struck her car head on, killing the drunk driver, his passenger, and the Uber driver. The Uber driver’s cannabis use was not the main factor contributing to the accident, but it made the matter of apportioning liability for the accident more complicated in the ensuing legal actions.
Set Up a Consultation Today
A personal injury lawyer can help you get justice after a preventable accident involving a driver under the influence of cannabis. Contact Boone & Davis in Fort Lauderdale, Florida or call 954-566-9919 to explore your potential recovery options today.
Source:
palmbeachpost.com/news/20191111/lantana-area-womanrsquos-parents-sue-uber-in-crash-that-killed-three
