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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US: Court: Drivers with marijuana in body can be charged
Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Thursday 22 Jun 2006 LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Drivers with a long-lasting chemical found in the body after marijuana use can be charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled. In a 4-3 decision released Wednesday, the court ruled that 11-carboxy-THC, which is released when the body breaks down the marijuana's psychoactive ingredient THC, is a schedule 1 controlled substance. The court also ruled prosecutors do not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt a person is intoxicated, only that the chemical is in the body. Advertisement Chief Justice Clifford Taylor and Justices Maura Corrigan, Robert Young Jr. and Stephen Markman signed the opinion. Justices Michael Cavanagh, Elizabeth Weaver and Marilyn Kelly dissented. They wrote that the ruling will affect anyone with the substance in their body no matter how long ago or whether ingestion occurred by second-hand smoke. The ruling ignores comparable federal law and "creates tremendous potential for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement," the dissenting justices said. The opinion overturns a Court of Appeals ruling that found 11-carboxy-THC is not a schedule 1 controlled substance. The ruling came in two cases. One involved a woman who lost control of her vehicle in Grand Traverse County, killing one woman and paralyzing two children. She had marijuana cigarettes in her possession and admitted smoking one about four hours before the crash. The other case involved a man in Jackson County who was stopped by police for driving erratically. He had smoked marijuana a half hour after being pulled over. http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-35/1150958108294540.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
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