Can You Get a DUI Charge for Driving on CBD?
CBD products have become wildly popular in various forms. It can be taken as a pill, baked into food, vaporized in a liquid, and even smoked like you would a normal bud of marijuana. Yet it’s also derived from the same plant as traditional marijuana is. Yet it doesn’t get you stoned.
Those who enjoy taking CBD say it helps them stay calm, fall asleep, improve their digestion, and a host of other benefits that have not been thoroughly researched by scientists. Yet there is another issue: How does law enforcement differentiate between a substance like CBD which is technically legally to buy, sell, and possess and a substance like traditional marijuana that is illegal to buy, sell, and possess?
How Do Police Test for Intoxication?
Marijuana stays in your blood and is detectable longer than almost any other type of drug. Since it’s fat soluble, it remains in your body for up to a month after your last toke. This means if you’re pulled over for driving erratically, the police could request a blood sample and if you have any marijuana in your system at all, they can charge you with DUI—regardless of whether or not you smoked in the last eight hours.
Of course, places like Colorado, where pot is legal, have their own methods of testing the blood for marijuana. In these places, simply having any marijuana in your blood over the last month wouldn’t be cause to charge someone with DUI.
But in places like Florida, where pot is illegal, testing the blood for metabolites is still the established method of determining whether or not a driver is high. Prosecutors and law enforcement can simply assume that because there is any THC metabolite in your blood, you are under the influence and charge you with DUI. Fair? No. Is it something you have to consider? Absolutely.
Can Those Who Take CBD Be Charged with DUI?
Well, anyone can be charged with DUI. The question is: Will those charges result in a conviction?
Here’s the problem with CBD. CBD is grown from the same species of plant that produces THC, the chemical that gets you ‘high’. While CBD doesn’t do that, it’s possible that the plant can produce a positive result for THC in your bloodstream. Why? Because CBD does contain trace amounts of THC. They are, however, in such low quantities that you won’t experience any of the deleterious side effects of THC. The blood test reveals the presence of THC metabolites in the bloodstream and now you’ve failed the tox screen without ever taking an illegal substance.
The best advice we can give you is to be careful, because police will base their decisions on the blood test. The more pure the CBD is, the less likely it is that THC will show up on your tox screen.
Talk to an Orlando DUI Attorney Today
Good people sometimes make bad decisions. In other cases, good people are charged without cause. Call FL DUI Group today to schedule an appointment with a Florida DUI defense attorney. Let us protect your future.
Resource:
webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20190809/pure-cbd-wont-make-you-fail-a-drug-test-but#1
https://www.flduigroup.com/orange-county-man-charged-with-dui-manslaughter/
