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James Nash, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH (Friday, May 12, 2006) -- Ohioans who drive under the influence of illegal drugs, or even with traces of drugs in their blood, face jail time and stiff fines under a bill Gov. Bob Taft signed into law yesterday.
Taft and other supporters of Ohio's "drugged driving" law said it will protect people from drivers impaired by cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamines and other substances. Ohio becomes the 12 th state to set specific limits on how much narcotic is allowed in a person's blood before it is illegal to drive or operate a watercraft. In other states, and in Ohio before the new law takes effect in 90 days, it' s illegal to drive while impaired by drugs, including otherwise legal prescription medications. But before Taft signed the law yesterday, police and judges had wide discretion to determine whether a driver was actually impaired. "It makes it a much fairer playing field for everyone: law enforcement, the courts, drivers who take the wheel," said Sen. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, the chief sponsor of the bill. "It varied from court to court and county to county and judge to judge depending on their definition of who was impaired." The law spells out blood-level concentrations of common drugs above which it is illegal to drive. More controversially, it also outlaws driving with certain levels of metabolites: the end product that remains in the body after a drug has been metabolized. That drew strong criticism from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which contends that a casual marijuana user could be charged with a felony for driving to work on a Monday after smoking moderate quantities of marijuana on the weekend. "Arresting someone who used marijuana two, four, 10, 20 days ago is not enhancing public safety," said Allen St. Pierre, NORML's executive director. "In the end, it's science that needs to be logically dictating the law. I'm not sure why the politics drove this when the science does not support it." The State Highway Patrol, which helped write the new law, said it's unlikely to radically change the way drugged drivers are arrested and prosecuted. Any driver who appears to be impaired can be arrested and forced to take a urine or blood test on penalty of losing his or her driving privileges, Sgt. Craig Cvetan said. The new law establishes uniform standards. But Cvetan said that it will be more difficult to enforce than alcohol laws because there's no narcotics equivalent of the common roadside Breathalyzer test. jnash@dispatch.com Newshawk: Michael (www.ohiopatient.net)
Pubdate: Fri, May 12 2006
Source: The Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Author: James Nash
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