Tagged: dui

On Tuesday, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana patients are not automatically breaking the law if caught driving after using marijuana.

Passed in 2008 by Michigan voters, the state’s Medical Marihuana Act does prohibit patients from operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of pot.

But the law fails to explicitly say just how much THC, marijuana’s active ingredient, needs to be in the bloodstream for a user to be considered “under the influence.”

Which is why the justices offered this piece of advice to lawmakers: Set a legal limit for pot consumption, just like the blood alcohol content metric for alcohol intoxication.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan boaters and snowmobilers would be held to the same drunken driving standards as drivers under legislation introduced in the state House.

The bipartisan package of bills was introduced by Republican Reps. Matt Lori of Constantine and Dave Pagel of Berrien Springs and Democratic Rep. Andrew Kandrevas of Southgate. The legislation would set the legal blood-alcohol limit for boat, snowmobile and off-road vehicle operators at 0.08 percent.

The Michigan State Police, Michigan's Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and other groups are urging lawmakers to maintain the state's 0.08 percent blood-alcohol content drunk driving threshold.

As the law stands now, the threshold is set to increase to .10 percent on October 1 of this year.

In the current law, "operating while intoxicated" includes the following:

State police say an annual Michigan enforcement crackdown on motorists who fail to use seat belts and child safety seats led to 8,050 citations. That's down about 1,000 from 2011.

This year's Click It or Ticket campaign ran from May 21 to June 1.

State police say they have reports from law enforcement agencies in 26 counties. They say a preliminary count shows that officers stopped 14,761 vehicles during the crackdown.

The state has reported a slight drop in the rate of seat belt law compliance, from a record-high 97.9 percent in 2009 to 94.5 percent in 2011.

The enforcement effort led to a number of other citations, including 95 drunken driving arrests and 53 drug arrests. Thy also cited about 1,000 insurance violations and 535 suspended license violations.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Test results say state Rep. Bob Genetski's blood-alcohol level was at a point considered intoxicated under Michigan law about an hour and a half after his drunken driving arrest.

MLive.com reports  Genetski's blood-alcohol level was at Michigan's legal limit of 0.08 percent following the early Jan. 19 traffic stop in East Lansing. The news organization obtained the results of the court-ordered test following a Freedom of Information Act request.

Genetski's attorney, Mike Nichols, on Wednesday told The Associated Press he was restrained from commenting about the results of the test because they would be evidence.

The Saugatuck Republican was arrested after he refused to take a Breathalyzer test. He was ticketed and his drunken driving case is pending.