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DUI & Potential Upcoming Changes to the Law

On Behalf of | Mar 31, 2017 | Cannabis Law, DUI Law, Marijuana Law |

I don’t know how many of you saw it, but legislation is pending in Utah to lower the amount of alcohol you can have in your system to .05. That’s effectively one drink, one decent beer or one glass of wine. The legal limit in most Canadian Providences has been .05 for some time now. Does this mean .05 is coming to California anytime soon? That is a tough question to answer, but given the overly (in my opinion) safety conscience society we live in I would anticipate it happening within the next five years.

As if that’s not bad enough I also believe DUIs are going to become priorable for life. (Priorable means: A criminal defendant’s previous record of criminal charges, convictions, or other judicial disposal of criminal cases (such as probation, dismissal or acquittal).

For those of you old enough to remember, DUIs were initially priorable for five years. It was subsequently changed to seven years and they are now priorable for ten years. As I previously stated, I believe lifetime priorability is on the horizon.

Marijuana/Cannabis DUI’s

As I am sure some of you are aware you can currently be charged under 23152(a) of the vehicle code for driving under the influence of marijuana. With the passage of Proposition 64 (legalized recreational marijuana), both law enforcement and the scientific community are scrambling to determine how much marijuana in your bloodstream equals under the influence of and how do we test for the marijuana.

Lots of companies are trying to develop a variety of breath tests for marijuana. While at the moment, no standards for under the influence of marijuana exist, they are being developed and will be coming soon. New-fangled testing devices are on the horizon and will probably be in the marker soon. As the area of the law develops I will post updated information.

Stay tuned—I’ll be posting more information on these topics as it comes available. These are far-reaching law changes that will effect not only the way cases are processed, but potentially permanent legal records. Thanks for stopping by.

Greg Klein, Attorney at Law

Call Greg Klein at 530-278-0981 for assistance with your legal matters.