Oppose uninformed marijuana bill in Ohio
Published: March 9, 2006
The Ohio House Criminal Justice Committee will soon hear S.B. 8, which would criminalize drivers who have trace amounts of THC or THC metabolites in their blood or urine. In short, S.B. 8 has the potential to jail Ohioans for driving completely sober, and we need your help to stop it in its tracks.
There are two things you can do today to defeat this misguided legislation.
1) Please call the members of the Criminal Justice Committee immediately and tell them:
Please oppose Senate Bill 8, the drugged driving bill. The bill imposes criminal penalties without using scientific standards and will lead to many innocent, sober drivers being punished. I oppose this bill and urge you to oppose it, as well.
The telephone numbers of the committee members are below:
Chair Bob Latta (R-6th) (614) 466-8104
Vice Chair David Evans (R-71st) (614) 466-1482
Danny R. Bubp (R-88th) (614) 644-6034
Stephen Buehrer (R-74th) (614) 644-5091
Mike Gilb (R-76th) (614) 644-3819
Ronald Edward Hood (R-91st) (614) 466-2500
Jim Hughes (R-22nd) (614) 466-2473
Sally Conway Kilbane (R-16th) (614) 466-0961
Derrick Seaver (R-78th) (614) 466-1507
Bill Seitz (R-30th) (614) 466-8258
John R. Willamowski (R-4th) (614) 466-9624
Timothy J. DeGeeter (D-15th) (614) 466-3485
William J. Healy, II (D-52nd) (614) 466-8030
Annie L. Key (D-11th) (614) 466-1414
Lance Mason (D-8th) (614) 466-5441
Jeanine Perry (D-49th) (614) 466-1418
Tyrone K. Yates (D-33rd) (614) 466-1308
Kenny Yuko (D-7th) (614) 466-8012
2) Please follow up your calls with an e-mail to the Criminal Justice Committee members, urging them to defeat S.B. 8. Clicking on this link will send a letter to all of the committee members, urging them to oppose S.B. 8. Our automated system allows you to easily send pre-written letters to your legislators, or you can compose the letters yourself. State legislators truly do listen to their constituents, and you can voice your opposition to this harmful legislation by taking action now.
S.B. 8 presumes that completely sober drivers are intoxicated for having .02 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood in their systems or .10 nanograms of THC per milliliter of urine, both of which constitute trace amounts below the scientifically supported standard for proving intoxication. In addition, S.B. 8 imposes criminal penalties for those found to have 10 nanograms of marijuana metabolites per milliliter of blood or 15 nanograms per milliliter of urine. These metabolites can stay in a persons blood and urine for up to 30 days, meaning that drivers who have not used marijuana for up to a month may still be arrested and prosecuted for driving under the influence of drugs.
S.B. 8 will lead to innocent Ohioans being prosecuted for crimes they did not commit. Clearly, impaired driving should remain a crime. But Ohio already has a sensible DUID law that criminalizes a person for driving under the influence of a drug.
E-mail your representatives now and urge Ohio to embrace sensible marijuana policy that protects all Ohioans.
Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass this on so that even more Ohioans can participate in reform.
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