Marijuana DUI Drug Laws

Most people realize that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, variations of crimes which have been laid out by the Legislature in Nevada. Some of the more commonly charged drug crimes are those related to marijuana, commonly referred to as “weed.” “cannabis” or “pot). Many people don’t realize however that there is a separate category of crime which combines Driving under the Influence (“DUI”) and marijuana laws.

Under Nevada law, found in Nevada Revised Statute (“NRS”) 484C.110, it is against the law for a person to be behind the wheel, or to be “in actual physical control of a vehicle” on a public road, when the person has the following amounts of Marijuana, or Metabolite, in their system:

This law, much like the law that dictates that it is illegal for a driver to have .08 or higher blood alcohol concentration while behind the wheel, is known as a “per se” limit for which the law states that a person is impaired or “under the influence.”

Many times this crime develops when a police officer stops a vehicle and develops a suspicion of the use of marijuana by the driver. In a great number of cases, the police will indicate in their reports such statements as “when I approached the vehicle I immediately smelled an odor that, due to my training and experience, led me to believe was marijuana.”

In these cases, the driver will likely be arrested on “suspicion of DUI-Drugs” (or driving under the Influence of a controlled substance – marijuana). When this happens, the police or law enforcement officer making the arrest will require the driver to submit to a blood test. Such a test can reveal both the presence of Marijuana, as well as the Marijuana metabolite (a substance the body creates after ingestion and as the body breaks down the drug). The Marijuana metabolite will usually remain detectable in a blood test for a far longer period of time than the drug itself can be detected.

It is important for a lawyer defending a DUI Marijuana charge to understand how the body breaks down Marijuana after ingestion and how long the metabolite is present. When a person is a regular user of Marijuana, marijuana metabolites can remain in that person’s system long periods of time, often several weeks, even if the driver did not consume any marijuana on the day he was arrested for DUI and, in reality, was not under the influence of the drug at all at the time he or she was pulled over.

For a free initial consultation about how best to defend you or your loved ones on a charge related to DUI Drugs, please call the law offices of Hofland & Tomsheck at (702) 895-6760.