Ohio Senate Unanimously Approves Bill to Update OVI Laws Regarding Marijuana
Ohio’s OVI laws are set to undergo a significant update, following the unanimous approval of a bill by the state Senate. The legislation aims to address the issue of motorists being found guilty of driving under the influence of marijuana, even if they haven’t consumed the drug in a month.
According to attorney Charles Rowland, the current testing procedures for a motorist’s THC content can find them guilty of driving impaired, even if they haven’t ingested marijuana in a month. This is because Ohio’s law enforcement tests motorists for carboxy-THC, an inactive residual compound that can remain in a person’s system for up to a month.
However, carboxy-THC has no psychoactive properties and doesn’t necessarily indicate impaired driving. As a result, individuals who have legally consumed marijuana days, weeks, or even months prior to driving could be found guilty of OVI, even if there is no evidence of driving impairment.
Senate Bill 55 aims to address this issue by eliminating the state’s current standards that focus on inactive compounds and instead directing law enforcement to test for more indicative compounds. The bill would set a limit of at least 25 nanograms of delta-9 THC per milliliter in urine, or at least two but less than five nanograms per milliliter in blood, or a concentration of at least five nanograms per milliliter in saliva, to infer a motorist as guilty.
The bill also proposes a delta-9 THC limit of five nanograms per milliliter of blood, which would make a motorist automatically guilty of operating a vehicle under the influence. While some have expressed concerns that the proposed standards would result in a low conviction rate, the ACLU of Ohio has praised the bill as a “noticeable improvement over current law.”
The bill will now move to the Ohio House, where it awaits further testimony and debate.
