Vote tomorrow: Defeat bill that would put past marijuana users at risk of DUI arrest

Published: January 5, 2010

The New Hampshire Legislature will vote tomorrow, January 6, on a bill that seeks to punish the use of marijuana with a DUI conviction. HB 665 expands New Hampshire’s DUI law to include drivers who drive with "a chemical substance, natural or synthetic, or its metabolites" in their system. Driving while impaired by marijuana or any other controlled substance is already illegal in New Hampshire, but HB 665 potentially gives overzealous police and prosecutors another tool with which to harass and punish past marijuana use.

This bill is scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, January 6, where it must receive a majority vote or it will die.

We urgently need your help to defeat this wasteful, unjust bill. Please e-mail your representatives today in opposition to HB 665.

This bill would not give drivers who test positive for marijuana metabolites an automatic DUI. But its lack of a standard for judging impairment means that even a trace amount of marijuana could potentially be used to charge someone with DUI.

Because reckless driving and driving while impaired are already illegal in New Hampshire, HB 665 is also wasteful, because it will lead to more scarce resources being used to target drivers who test positive for any amount of marijuana.

We need as many people to contact their representatives as possible, so please forward this alert to others in your community who are interested in opposing laws that are scientifically unsound. Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project and all of our allies.