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Rev. Chazman
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 15 Nov 2003
Posts: 1403
Location: Illinois - USA
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 Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:09 am Post subject: Federal Bill Ordering States Mandatory Minimum Penalties.. |
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More evidence of government strong arm force tactics...
| Quote: |
Federal Bill Introduced Ordering States To Pass Mandatory Minimum
Penalties For "Drugged Driving"
Non-Compliant States To Lose Federal Highway Funds
Washington, DC: Federal legislation was introduced this week to
withhold highway funding from state legislatures that do not pass laws
enacting mandatory minimum penalties for anyone convicted of driving
under the influence of illegal drugs.
The bill, H.R. 3907, comes two weeks
after panelists at a conference co-sponsored by the White House
Office of
National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) called on federal officials to
develop "uniform standards" and "model
legislation" to encourage states to
enact and/or modify their DUID (driving under the influence of drugs)
laws.
Under the proposed legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jon Porter
(R-NV),
states have until 2006 to pass and enforce DUID laws "approved
by the
Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration," or
lose portions of their federal highway funding.
In a press conference introducing the legislation, Rep. Porter
falsely
stated, "Few states have enacted laws to address drugged
impairment." In
truth, virtually all states have approved DUID legislation. The
majority
of these laws forbid drivers to operate a motor vehicle if they are
either
"under the influence" of a controlled substance, or if they
have been
rendered "incapable of driving safely" because of their use
of an illicit
drug.
Under these statutes, so-called "effect-based" DUID
laws, a prosecutor
must prove that the driver's observed impairment and/or incapacity is
directly associated with drug ingestion. To do so, prosecutors
typically
rely on evidence gathered by law enforcement officers at the scene of
an
accident (i.e., a driver's failure to pass a field sobriety test),
testimony from a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE), as well as a positive
result from a blood or saliva test indicating recent ingestion of a
controlled substance. Unlike urinalysis, blood and saliva tests can
identify "parent drugs" (i.e., THC), not simply drug
metabolites (inert
compounds indicative of past drug use).
By contrast, ten states (Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois,
Indiana,
Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wisconsin) have
enacted
so-called "zero tolerance" per se laws which make it a
criminal offense to
operate a motor vehicle while having a drug or drug metabolite in
one's
body or bodily fluids - even if the driver's ability to drive is not
impaired. Under such statutes, individuals can be found guilty of
violating the law if the driver is found to have been operating a
motor
vehicle with any amount of a prohibited substance present in their
bodily
fluids, including urine - where metabolites may remain detectable for
days
after past use. For marijuana, inactive metabolites are identifiable
in
the urine for several days and sometimes weeks after its use.
Representative Porter's proposed legislation does not specify
which
type of DUID laws - "effect-based laws" or "zero
tolerance" per se laws -
states must enact in order to comply with the federal mandate.
NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup worries that such a mandate
will
be used to coerce state legislatures to universally adopt "zero
tolerance"
per se laws, which he called unfair and bad public policy.
"While driving
impaired by marijuana or other illicit and licit drugs is never
acceptable, neither is it acceptable to treat sober drivers as if
they are
impaired simply because low levels of inactive marijuana metabolites
may
be detectable in their bodily fluids," he said. "These
'zero tolerance'
laws are neither a safe nor sensible way to identify impaired drivers;
they are an attempt to misuse the traffic safety laws to identify and
prosecute marijuana smokers per se."
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup or Paul
Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500. A state-by-state summary of
DUID
laws is available online at:
http://www.walshgroup.org
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Peace 
_________________
I praise good thoughts, good words, and good deeds and those that are to be thought, spoken, and done. I do accept all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. I do renounce all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds. ---Avesta: Yasna
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Future Servant of Cannatopia ©2004 - ∞ Rev. Chazman all rights reserved |
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