Ky.: Floor vote imminent on bill seeking to make prior marijuana use an automatic DUI

SB 5 seeks to punish prior use of a controlled substance — including marijuana — with an automatic DUI conviction. Under the provisions of SB 5, a driver who tests positive for traces of marijuana can be convicted of "driving under the influence" even if that driver is unimpaired at the time of arrest.

In order to push this ill-advised legislation through the legislature, proponents have attached SB 5 to HB 369 as Senate Floor Amendment 1 (HB 369 SFA1). Because HB 369 already overwhelmingly passed the House, the amended version may enjoy enough support to pass the Senate; however, it must be called to the Senate floor for a vote before Friday or it dies.

Please send your legislators an e-mail today asking them to oppose any attempt to equate prior use of a controlled substance with an automatic DUI conviction.

After you have sent your legislators an e-mail, please follow up with a call to your state senator and ask him or her to vote "no" on HB 369 SFA1 if it comes up for a vote, which we expect to happen in the next day or two.

Zero-tolerance laws are unjust and scientifically unsound, which is exactly why not one single state applies such a rule to adults who use alcohol responsibly. Legislation like this is especially problematic as it relates to marijuana, because 1) marijuana is detectable by drug tests for days, even weeks, after its intoxicating effects have worn off, and 2) there are currently no scientifically reliable tests to measure driver impairment as it relates to marijuana. In fact, the inability to accurately measure marijuana impairment with a blood test is why both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse have stated that marijuana impairment testing via blood sampling is unreliable.

We need as many people as possible calling committee members, so please forward this alert to other Kentuckians who are interested in opposing laws that are scientifically unsound. Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project and all of our allies.