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A Pennsylvania Senate committee is set to take up a bill next week that would protect medical marijuana patients from being prosecuted under the state\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d DUI laws.<\/p>\n
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R), would amend state statute to require proof of active impairment before a registered patient can be prosecuted for driving under the influence. The current lack of specific protections for the state\u2019s roughly 368,000 patients puts them in legal jeopardy when on the road, supporters say.<\/p>\n
Members of the Senate Transportation Committee will explore<\/a> the issue at a hearing<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The #PASenate<\/a> Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on 9\/21 with a focus on my #SB167<\/a>, which would remove DUI penalties for legal medicinal cannabis use. @SenLangerholc<\/a> @PASenateGOP<\/a> Details \u2014 Senator Bartolotta (@senbartolotta) September 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Bartolotta first introduced an earlier version<\/a> of the bill<\/a> in June 2020. She said at the time that the state needs to \u201censure that the legal use of this medicine does not give rise to a criminal conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n Months after the standalone reform legislation was introduced, the Pennsylvania House approved a separate amendment that would enact the policy change<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana in 2016, with the first dispensaries in the state opening in 2018. But the state\u2019s zero-tolerance DUI law still doesn\u2019t reflect those changes. Because it criminalizes the presence of any THC or its metabolites in a driver\u2019s blood\u2014which can be detected for weeks after a person\u2019s last use\u2014the law puts virtually all medical marijuana patients at risk, even if it\u2019s been days since their last use and they show no signs of impairment.<\/p>\n Bartolotta\u2019s bill would require officers to prove a registered patient was actually impaired on the road.<\/p>\n \u2014 \u201cUnimpaired patients currently face the risk of being arrested, prosecuted and convicted for using medicinal marijuana that has no bearing on their ability to drive a vehicle,\u201d the senator wrote<\/a> in a cosponsorship memo late last year. \u201cGiven the very serious consequences of a DUI conviction, my legislation will provide critical protections for medicinal cannabis patients by ensuring responsible use of their legal medicine does not give rise to a criminal conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n Several legal cannabis states have enacted per se THC limits in blood, similar to blood alcohol requirements. However, evidence isn\u2019t clear on the relationship between THC concentrations in blood and impairment.<\/p>\n A study published in 2019, for example, concluded that those who drive at the legal THC limit\u2014which is typically between two to five nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood\u2014were not statistically more likely to be involved in an accident<\/a>\u00a0compared to people who haven\u2019t used marijuana.<\/p>\n Separately, the\u00a0Congressional Research Service in 2019 determined<\/a>\u00a0that while \u201cmarijuana consumption can affect a person\u2019s response times and motor performance\u2026 studies of the impact of marijuana consumption on a driver\u2019s risk of being involved in a crash have produced conflicting results, with some studies finding little or no increased risk of a crash from marijuana usage.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside of this bill, Pennsylvania lawmakers have continued to pursue adult-use legalization in the state. Earlier this year, two legislators circulated a memo to build support<\/a> for a comprehensive reform bill they plan to introduce, for example.<\/p>\n A bipartisan Senate duo is also in the process of crafting legislation to legalize cannabis across the commonwealth. They announced some details of the proposal earlier this year<\/a>, but the bill has yet to be formally introduced.<\/p>\n Outside the legislature, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) said earlier this year that marijuana legalization was a priority<\/a>\u00a0as he negotiated the annual budget with lawmakers. However, his formal spending request didn\u2019t contain legislative language to actually accomplish the cannabis policy change.<\/p>\n Wolf, who signed a medical cannabis expansion bill in June<\/a>, has repeatedly called for legalization and pressured the Republican-controlled legislature to pursue the reform<\/a>\u00a0since\u00a0coming out in favor of the policy in 2019<\/a>. Shortly after he did that, a lawmaker filed a separate bill to\u00a0legalize marijuana through a state-run model<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D),\u00a0who is running for U.S. Senate<\/a>, previously led a\u00a0listening tour across the state<\/a>\u00a0to solicit public input on legalization. He\u2019s credited that effort with helping to move the governor toward embracing comprehensive reform. The lieutenant governor even\u00a0festooned his Capitol office<\/a>\u00a0with marijuana-themed decor in contravention of a state law passed by the GOP-led legislature.<\/p>\n Fetterman has also been actively involved in encouraging the governor to exercise his clemency power for cannabis cases while the legislature moves to advance reform.<\/p>\n In May, Wolf pardoned a doctor<\/a>\u00a0who was arrested, prosecuted and jailed for growing marijuana that he used to provide relief for his dying wife. That marks his\u00a096th pardon for people with cannabis convictions<\/a>\u00a0through the Expedited Review Program for Non-Violent Marijuana-Related Offenses that\u2019s being run by the Board of Pardons.<\/p>\n Overall, legalization is popular among Pennsylvania voters, with 58 percent of residents saying\u00a0they favor ending cannabis prohibition<\/a>\u00a0in a survey released in April.<\/p>\n Another poll released in May found that a majority of voters in the state also support decriminalizing all currently illicit drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n 80 Top Law Enforcement Officials, Including A Biden Nominee, Urge SCOTUS To Hear Safe Injection Drug Case<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Pennsylvania Senators Will Consider DUI Protections For Medical Marijuana Patients At Hearing<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Pennsylvania Senate committee is set to take up a bill next week that would protect medical marijuana patients from being prosecuted under the state\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d DUI laws. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R), would amend state statute to require proof of active impairment before a registeredContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":50000,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50001,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49999\/revisions\/50001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Pennsylvania Senators Will Consider DUI Protections For Medical Marijuana Patients At Hearing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"