Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) – New York Office of Cannabis Management is challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul on a proposal in her budget that would change the Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act.
Former Buffalo Police Cpt. Jeff Rinaldo says how the law is currently written, officers are prohibited from determining that a person is driving under the influence based on the odor of marijuana.
“Officers had to turn their noses off when it came to the smell of marijuana as well as the presence of it. Previously, if you saw marijuana in the vehicle, that would give you reasonable suspicion leading to probable cause to search a vehicle. Now the presence of it was basically had to be blinded by the police and did not allow any type of search of the vehicle or the person based on the odor or presence of marijuana in the vehicle,” stated Rinaldo in an interview with WBEN.
Rinaldo says the revision would allow officers to request a judge to sign a warrant for a blood test if the smell of marijuana leads them to believe a person is under its influence.
“It sounds like this piece is meant to balance out the fact that if you are involved in an accident, injury or a fatality, and the officers believe that it’s due to the presence of marijuana in your system, it is authorizing them to then go to a court to attempt to get a search warrant to determine your level of intoxication,” Rinaldo said.
DWI and Traffic Attorney Arthur Pressman says although the revision to the law may assist officers in identifying intoxicated drivers, he doesn’t believe it’s going to make prosecution any easier.
“Cannabis has a shelf life in your system of several days. It doesn’t necessarily mean that if you had cannabis in your blood at the time of your driving, and if it’s a low amount in your system, that you’re impaired. So the police in New York State have specialized police officers on some of the forces called a drug recognition expert, and that’s supposed to assist in providing additional evidence that these officers are specially trained to look for certain clues that may show an impairment by drugs, but again, getting a blood test for cannabis is even that is not the end all, because for the most part, it’s hard to show that you were impaired at the time of driving,” stated Pressman.
Despite it being legal for adults to use recreationally in New York, Pressman says a majority of his cases is alcohol related. However, when he does, the cases are usually dropped because of low-levels of marijuana in the person’s system at the time of the testing.
“Most people do not get blood tests, and when they do get the blood tests, and many arrests after the fact, when you get the blood test back three or four weeks later, it shows they have a very low level of marijuana in their system, and oftentimes the district attorney’s office winds up dismissing that charge because the levels are so low. It’s hard to prove that they were impaired at the time they were driving because those levels are so low,” explained Pressman.
H/T: www.audacy.com
